“He had some words for the umpire from yesterday,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “Everyone had their say, and we moved on.” Apparently, Chris Sale didn’t, and he made that clear when the umpires were walking past the Atlanta Braves dugout on Sunday.

It originally stemmed from a disagreement between the pitcher and the umpire on Saturday, and ended with the official throwing him out even before the first pitch of the game the next day.

The Braves were visiting Yankee Stadium, and the veteran starter allowed 5 hits and 3 earned runs over 6.0 innings on Saturday. But the biggest moment of the second game wasn’t the box score or his stats. It was a call from home plate umpire Dan Merzel. 

“Umpires ejected Sale pretty much as soon as they walked onto the field,” Jomboy Media captioned the clip shared on X. 

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As the umps started walking by the Braves’ dugout on the third base side, Sale threw his hands up from the dugout, pleaded his Saturday case, and even said a few word to crew chief Dan Bellino. Following that, he got ejected, even though he was not scheduled to pitch on Sunday’s game.

On Saturday, in the fifth inning, Sale was on the mound with the Braves leading 2-1. He first walked George Lombard Jr following two back-to-back overturned strike calls. Then there was Spencer Jones, who recorded a triple while Lombard scored. With the teams tied, Sale went into his windup and struck out José Caballero, after which Austin Wells came to bat.

Before he threw a pitch to the new batter, Sale slightly hitched his right leg. Merzel noticed it immediately and called a balk. Controversial it may have been, but it still allowed Jones to reach home, and the Yankees were ahead 3-2.

According to MLB rules, a hybrid pitcher like Sale is supposed to announce when he is changing from a stretch to a windup.

“Chris Sale failed to declare that he was going to pitch out of the windup for the second batter, and he’s required by rule to make that declaration as a hybrid pitcher,” crew chief Dan Bellino remarked, per Chad Bishop on X. 

It wasn’t done yet, though.

The 37-year-old immediately started arguing with the umpire and went on for over a minute. Then his manager entered the field. Weiss, too, had a lengthy and agitated conversation with the umpire, taking his cap off, and ultimately, getting ejected.

“Sale declared the hitter before that he was going out of the windup. He said he did not declare after that. He’s never done that in his career so it’s a terrible call. I always try to show the umpires respect, and they know that, but you can’t make that call right there,” the manager shared after the Braves’ loss on Saturday.  

Now, pair both the costly balk and the ejection, and the Braves were pretty much doomed from that point on. They fell to the Yankees 5-4, and the starter earned his first loss since June 28. 

After Sunday’s ejection, the commentators initially thought they were fooling around, but the decision was real. However, it didn’t impact the player, as he wasn’t pitching on Sunday. The $27 million pitcher watched his team win the third game (2-1) from the air-conditioned locker room while the umps stayed in the 90-plus-degree heat at the stadium in New York. 

Beyond the Braves: Chris Sale’s fiery side has been on display before

The 2024 NL Cy Young winner suffered the fourth ejection of his 16-year MLB career. And if there is one thing that the fans know about him, it is that he has never been shy about showing his emotions on the field. The most notable instance was in 2016 when he cut up the Chicago White Sox’s throwback jersey. 

The club was celebrating its World Series championship from four decades ago, and they decided to wear 1976 navy blue, collared jerseys on July 22, 2016. But Sale felt that it was quite uncomfortable and requested that the franchise allow him to wear a different one. 

“When I saw that there was something in the way of that 100 percent winning mentality, I had an issue,” he said. “I tried to bring it up and say, ‘Hey, listen, these are my thoughts and concerns,’ and they got pushed away because of the business deal that was set in place.”

He later apologized to the fans, as his passion for winning outweighed nostalgia. His stunt, though, earned him a 5-day suspension and $250,000 off his salary. He also had to pay a $12,700 fine to cover the cost of the jersey. 

His Sunday ejection was the first time since August 3, 2019. Back then, he was with the Boston Red Sox, and it was also against the Yankees. 

Even after all that, Chris Sale is still one of the top contenders for the NL Cy Young Award this year. He has a 2.20 ERA with 151 strikeouts and a 12-7 record. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves are on top of the NL East with a 71-47 record. Hence, one ejection and one series loss wouldn’t change much for them.