That’s what happens when unsaid rules stay unsaid. Bat on the ground, another disappointment, another argument, and another ejection. The déjà vu is hard to miss. The first ejection of the season came over a controversial strike call on March 28. Five months later, nothing has changed. Instead of asking Nate Tomlinson, the first-base umpire, the home plate umpire did the job himself, and Mauricio Dubón was clearly not having it.

Mauricio Dubón battled Jeff Hoffman for nine pitches, only for the at-bat to end on a call that was always going to spark trouble. On a full-count pitch in the eighth, Dubón checked his swing, but home plate umpire Carlos Torres immediately rang him up. No appeal to first base. No second opinion. Just strike three. Dubón had seen enough. He fired his bat to the ground and unloaded on Torres, turning a borderline call into one of the night’s heated scenes. Jomboy Media posted the entire blowup on X.

“Mauricio Dubón was NOT happy that the home plate umpire called him out on this check swing without appealing to the first base umpire,” wrote Jomboy Media.

By then, Atlanta had already blown its three-run comeback from the sixth, with a sweep staring them in the face. Torres’ call killed what could have been a walk and pushed the frustration over the edge. As Dubón went after the decision, Walt Weiss stepped in to back his player. The Braves were not asking for much, just a second look from the first-base umpire. Even the broadcasters thought Torres should have asked for help.

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The irony was hard to miss. Two innings earlier, Dubón had helped drag Atlanta back into the game after entering as a pinch hitter in the sixth. His single moved Luke Thomas to third during a three-run rally that erased a 4-1 deficit and tied the game at 4-4. Dubón had already helped spark one comeback. By the eighth, with Atlanta trying to mount another, his night was cut short by a judgment call that left him furious. And this was not some meaningless late-inning argument either.

Ozzie Albies had just doubled with Atlanta trailing 6-4, putting a runner in scoring position and giving the Braves a real opening. Had Dubón drawn the walk, Atlanta would have had runners on first and second with Austin Riley coming up and the tying run suddenly on base. Instead, Torres’ strike-three call slammed the door on that possibility. Dubón was gone, Riley followed with another strikeout, and whatever momentum Atlanta had built died right there.

“Just ask for help on anything that is borderline. It’s a difficult thing for the home plate umpire to pick up on,” observed the broadcasters.

But there was no overturning of the call, and Torres ejected Weiss. Dubón left the field, slamming his helmet on the way to the dugout.

“He doesn’t have to check, but I told him he should have, in so many words,” Weiss told MLB.com. “I just feel like it’s [a] close enough check swing right there that the proper protocol there is to check with the first-base umpire.”

This is not the first time controversy has erupted over check swing calls. Neither will it be the last unless MLB adds some guidelines to its rulebook. In the minor leagues, a swing is ruled a strike if the bat crosses a 45-degree angle compared to the handle. But the big leagues have left it completely to the umpire’s discretion.

Back in June, Manny Machado was issued an unsportsmanlike equipment violation after he slammed his helmet in frustration over a check swing call. He was also fined for the gesture. But what caused all the fiasco?

Against the St. Louis Cardinals, Machado checked his swing on a borderline pitch from Andre Pallante. Home plate umpire Nic Lentz ruled it a strike and ended the inning. Machado only realized what happened after he saw the Cardinals players leave the field and lost his temper.

Even taking about the first ejection, back on March 28, Trevor Story found himself in almost the same mess against Cincinnati. With Boston trailing 5-4 in the eighth and two runners on, C.B. Bucknor rang Story up on a checked swing without asking the first-base umpire for help. Story immediately lost his temper, and Alex Cora rushed out before the argument got any worse. Cora ended up getting ejected, handing MLB its first ejection of the season. The frustration had been building all afternoon, too, with six of Bucknor’s calls already overturned through ABS challenges before that controversial strikeout.

Coming back to the Braves, let’s have a look at what the series sweep means for their National League standing.

Atlanta Braves go down in National League

The road trip to Minnesota ended in an uncharacteristic way for the Braves as the Twins swept them in a three-game set. It is only the second time that the Braves have been swept this season.

The Braves are in the middle of a rare rough patch this season, having lost 5 of their last 6 games. Their last win came in the series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks (5-3). During this span, the Braves have scored only 15 runs, even getting shut out (0-2 vs the D’backs).

As Kody Clemens and Brooks Lee’s RBI singles lifted the Twins to victory, Minnesota improved to 63-65 and moved into the third and final AL Wild Card spot, edging the Texas Rangers out of the playoff picture.

Meanwhile, the Braves fell to 74-53 but remained atop the NL East despite the sweep. They now head to Chicago for a makeup game against the White Sox.