John Lackey was tossed from Wednesday's game mid-batter to start the third inning after arguing with home plate umpire Tom Hallion about balls and strikes.

Lackey was tossed from Wednesday's game mid-batter to start the third inning after arguing with home plate umpire Tom Hallion about balls and strikes.

Analysis:

It was a bizarre scene as Hallion stepped out to signal to Lackey to stop talking and the Cardinals' starter seemed to calm down and then Hallion ejected him in the middle of Brayan Pena's at-bat. Lackey gave up two runs on four hits and a walk before getting ejected, but a win and a quality start were still attainable before his ejection, so this is pretty unfortunate for Lackey's owners. Tyler Lyons came in to relieve Lackey with no outs recorded in the third inning.