Ausmus: 'Out of line' to suggest Tigers intentionally hit umpire with pitch

Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was irked Wednesday at the notion that the errant Buck Farmer fastball that felled home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott in the third inning, moments after he ejected both Ausmus and catcher James McCann, had some intent behind it.

And for the Cleveland Indians' broadcasting team to insinuate as much, Ausmus said following his club's 5-3 loss at Progressive Field, is "out of line."

"I heard the Indians broadcast. To imply that that was intentional is, first of all, a lie," Ausmus told Evan Woodberry of MLive.com. "If any player on this team intentionally tried to hurt an umpire, we'd deal with that severely. But for anyone to imply that that was intentional, that's completely wrong ... They're out of line saying that, quite frankly."

It was just a standard cross-up between a pitcher and catcher (who had only come off the bench moments earlier), Ausmus added, that contributed to the unfortunate pitch.

"(John) Hicks assumed the slider was coming and it was the fastball. And he was just late getting there because he thought it was a slider," Ausmus said.

Farmer, who allowed four runs on four hits and three walks over four innings, was perhaps even more offended by the insinuation of intent than his manager, saying that anyone who entertained the thought "should be ashamed."

"It shouldn't be a question," he said. "Just look at the situation. It's stupid to even think about. It shouldn't even be a thought from anybody that Hicks and I would do that. Anybody that's thinking that should be ashamed."