Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson was ejected during the sixth inning of Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers when home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz didn't reset the pitch clock after Aaron Nola requested a new baseball.
Rob Thomson was ejected after the umpires had an issue with how many baseballs Aaron Nola was discarding pic.twitter.com/C2WsmMq7qt
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 10, 2023
"They weren't going to let Nola switch out the baseball because they thought he was stalling for time," Thomson said postgame, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia. "Part of the rule is that you aren't supposed to delay or you can have a violation, but it doesn't specifically talk about throwing baseballs out.
"Baseballs are all different. They feel different in a pitcher's hand. Sometimes they get slick in the bags after innings. ... So, I was upset that they weren't going to allow him to switch out the baseball."
Nola, who hadn't previously had an incident this season despite frequently asking for new balls, said he wasn't doing anything different Saturday.
"Balls are slick and need to rub them up," Nola said. "Just like every game, I rub balls up after I get a new one in. Sometimes they are chalky, sometimes they are slick, sometimes the seams are bigger than other seams, and sometimes they are smaller.
"I don't know how you are supposed to slow the clock down when you're in the wind-up because we don't get to step off, and there's times where I need to rub the baseball."
However, crew chief Bill Miller disagreed with Thomson and Nola.
"As the game went on, he started to throw more and more balls out where we felt he was trying to reset the clock, which is an attempt to circumvent the pitch-clock regulations," Miller said, according to Aaron Bracy of The Associated Press. "It's up to the umpire's judgment if any player, at any time, is attempting to circumvent the pitch-clock regulations."
