Padres third baseman Manny Machado will sit out Tuesday night's game against the Giants after Major League Baseball denied his appeal of a one-game suspension for "aggressively arguing and making contact" with umpire Bill Welke.
In the Padres' June 15 game in Colorado, Machado was ejected for protesting a called third strike and approached Welke to continue the argument. Video shows Welke pointing to his arm early in the exchange, though there is no clear evidence of contact.
"He pointed, but I was way too into the zone of letting him hear what I had to say on what I thought about the whole call," Machado said the day the suspension was handed down. "I didn't touch him. I didn't think I touched him. The video says it also."
Machado's appeal was heard Friday.
The one-game suspension was met with disdain by the MLB umpires union. The union issued a statement on social media suggesting Machado was a repeat offender and likened his actions, including throwing his bat against the backstop, to workplace violence.
That drew a rebuke from Major League Baseball, as well as calls for umpire accountability from players and fans.
The ejection was Machado's first in three years.
