San Francisco Giants third-base coach Ron Wotus didn’t hesitate to let umpire Alan Porter hear his two cents on Saturday, less than 24 hours removed from Porter tossing Giants manager Tony Vitello.
During the lineup card exchange before Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Francisco, Wotus said his piece.
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Porter sent him to the showers, too.
Wotus, a longtime Giants staffer who replaced a reassigned Hector Borg in the third-base coaching box earlier this season, had a front-row seat to a call that drew ire amid a five-run D-backs third inning that played a significant role in San Francisco’s 10-6 defeat on Friday.
Nolan Arenado hit a chopper down the third-base line. Although the ball landed in foul territory beyond the infield, third-base umpire Alex MacKay ruled it fair since he believed it traveled over the bag. The play couldn’t be reviewed, and as reported by MLB.com, it really wasn’t until Tim Tawa launched a subsequent three-run homer that Vitello began his outburst.
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Following a strikeout that ended the inning, in which the Giants saw a 2-1 lead turn into a 6-2 deficit, Vitello gave Porter an earful from the dugout. Vitello’s second ejection in three days, and fifth of his rookie season skipping the Giants, resulted from him arguing about Arenado’s grounder and gesturing with his arms that it was far foul.
Porter, who also made a controversial call that denied the Giants a strikeout during Lars Nootbaar’s at-bat earlier in the frame, didn’t want to hear it. He threw out Vitello, and, meanwhile, second-base umpire Roberto Ortiz booted star pitcher Logan Webb.
Webb was heated in the dugout, where he grew frustrated about the calls and, in effect, the cascade of runs the D-backs tagged rookie starter Blade Tidwell for.
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“I was hot before Tony was, and I think I got him hot, and then it kind of escalated from there,” Webb said, per MLB.com.
With Porter serving as the third-base umpire for Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader, Wotus didn’t waste any time sharing his feelings, presumably about what went down the night before.
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