Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte was visibly in tears on the field Tuesday, and no one knew why until after the game.
Keeping his own emotions in check, manager Torey Lovullo revealed to reporters that Marte was upset after a fan at the Chicago White Sox’s Rate Field yelled something at him about his mother, who died in a car accident in 2017, per MLB.com’s Casey Drottar. The fan was reportedly ejected.
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Lovullo’s response, via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic:
“I looked right at him when I heard,” Lovullo said. “I looked right at him and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure.”
It’s unclear what the fan actually said — Lovullo declined to repeat it — but the manager was seen embracing Marte during a pitching change, with shortstop Geraldo Perdomo also offering his consolations.
When asked what he said to Marte, Lovullo said, “I love you and I’m with you. We’re all together and you’re not alone. No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you heard, that guy’s an idiot and shouldn’t have an impact on you.”
Perdomo called for the fan in question to be banned from baseball, via the Republic:
“That can’t happen,” Perdomo said. “Everybody knows how Ketel is. He’s fun. He plays the game hard. I feel bad for him. I feel mad about it. I hope MLB can do something with that guy. I don’t know who it was, but they’ve got to do something. We can’t continue to do that [expletive] here in MLB.”
Perdomo added: “He should be banned, for sure.”
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The D-backs won the game 4-1, with Marte going 2 for 4 with a first-inning solo homer.
Marte’s mother, Elpidia Valdez, died in the Dominican Republic in the middle of the D-backs’ 2017 season, not long after speaking to Marte on the phone. Marte was deeply affected, leaving the team to fly back to the D.R. and missing four games.
Eight years later, her death still hits him hard.
Ketel Marte had to deal with more than your usual heckling on Tuesday. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
(Vaughn Ridley via Getty Images)
Marte is currently on pace for the best season of his career and is among the contenders for the NL MVP award, after finishing third for the award last season. The reigning Silver Slugger at second base is slashing .320/.424/.608 with 15 homers through Tuesday. He is the longest-tenured member of the team, going back to 2017.
It’s been a trying few days for the D-backs overall. Middle-of-the-order batters Corbin Carroll, Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor were all out of the lineup on Tuesday, with Carroll hitting the IL due to a chip fracture in left wrist. The team was already without its biggest acquisition of the offseason, Corbin Burnes, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this month.
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