The Boston Red Sox beat the New York Mets, 2-0, on Tuesday night and they did so after having their starting pitcher, Walker Buehler, get ejected from the game in the third inning after he had words with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook.
The moments before and after the ejection were quite heated, as Buehler wasn't happy with Estabrook missing what looked to be an easy strike call on pitch that went right down the middle. Estabrook didn't like hearing Buehler questioning his call so he took off his mask and fired some words back at the righthander.
Red Sox announcer Lou Merloni didn't like that move by Estabrook and he explained why with this very honest take on the broadcast: "When the mask comes off, you're very confrontational...When the mask comes off and you're aggressively coming at him, it's very combative. You're escalating it."
Take a look for yourself:
"When the mask comes off, you're very confrontational...When the mask comes off and you're aggressively coming at him, it's very combative. You're escalating it."
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 20, 2025
Lou Merloni reacts to umpire Mike Estabrook ejecting Walker Buehler. pic.twitter.com/Taw13lJGCk
Merloni wasn't wrong there. Estabrook could have handled that a whole lot better than he did. A simple "let's get on with it" could have kept the game moving and not led to an ejection. Instead, he fired back at Buehler and things only got even more heated with Red Sox manager Alex Cora getting ejected, too.
The Red Sox were still somehow able to get the shutout victory despite losing their starting pitcher so early in the game. But it feels like Eastbrook made that situation worse than it had to be. Plus, it started with a really bad call on his part. Not a great look for the guy in blue.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Red Sox Announcer Rips Ump for 'Combative' Move During Heated Ejection .
