BALTIMORE – Jason Hammel was incensed. He had just thrown three straight home run balls to Detroit’s Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila to start the fourth inning.
Then, he threw one that hit the Tigers’ next hitter, Matt Tuiasosopo in the shoulder and was immediately ejected.
A difficult afternoon for Hammel turned ugly.
Hammel charged at home plate umpire Hunter Wendlestedt before the other umpires and manager Buck Showalter restrained him. He walked off the mound, and things got even worse for the Orioles
Detroit ended up hitting four home runs in the inning, and the Orioles lost 10-3 before 38,945 at Oriole Park.
“I’m not going to make a big deal of it. I hit him with a slider. Zero intent there to hit him, and obviously I give up three home runs, but I’m not the guy that answers getting hit around with hitting somebody. That’s bush league if you ask me. It was a mistake,” Hammel said.
Hammel is generally easygoing in the clubhouse, and didn’t have a reputation for having difficulties with umpires.
“I understand his position. I still don’t understand why he threw me out. That was the quickest toss I’ve ever seen. It was almost immediate,” Hammel said.
Crew chief Jerry Layne spoke on behalf of Wendelstedt to a pool reporter.
“Three home runs and a guy gets hit, you’re an umpire, what do you do?” Layne said.
Showalter didn’t feel the crew made the right choice.
“It’s s a real quick decision,” Showalter said. “It’s tough on umpires trying to judge intent, but they get a lot of pressure from the major league offices … but obviously we’re biased, very biased. I understand what the umpire’s trying to do, but it’s very tough for them to judge intent,” Showalter said.
The awful inning for the Orioles was unprecedented. According to STATS LLC, it’s the first time the Orioles allowed four home runs in an inning in their history.
Miguel Cabrera added a grand-slam against T.J. McFarland in an eight-run inning, the most the Orioles have given up this season.
Prince Fielder added his 10th home run in the sixth. The five home runs the Orioles allowed were the most since Aug 28, 2011, the last time they allowed back-to-back-to-back home runs.
Hammel’s day started poorly. He was getting behind hitters in the first two innings and quickly equaled his season high with three walks.
The score was tied at 1 after three, and Martinez hit his third home run followed by Peralta’s sixth and Avila’s fifth. Then the purpose pitch, and the ejection.
“You can issue a warning there. Obviously, three balls left the park and then a breaking ball hits the guy. You put yourself in their shoes and put yourself in our shoes. That’s what I try to do. I can’t speak for the umpire. I understand the intent of what they’re trying to do. But I’ve got a real biased opinion of it, and it’s pretty obvious to us there was nothing intentional about it,” Showalter said.
Adam Jones also defended Hammel.
“I can see that from center field. You can see it wasn’t a heater, but I can understand the umpire. It was up in that region of the head, the neck. I understand it. You don’t have to agree with it but you have to respect it,” Jones said.
Layne emphasized that the crew took the action preemptively.
“There’s no warnings that need to be given. There was no warnings prior to, and after you eject a player like that, then every pitcher entering the game and both sides, both managers are warned that any type of retaliation will be dealt with…That’s when we feel we have to control the game and to control the game to keep a retaliation from occurring, that’s what happens,” Layne said.
The other side didn’t necessarily think the pitch was intentional.
“It looked like a curve ball that he threw. I don’t think he was throwing at him, however in defense of the umpire, he might not have known it was a curve ball, because in the shadows, it was tough to see. No, in my heart, I do not think he was throwing at him,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
Tuiasosopo later scored, and Cabrera had his 17th home run which gave him 65 RBIs in just 54 games.
Hammel is 7-3, and all three of his losses have come at home. He was charged with five runs on five hits in three-plus innings.
The Orioles (31-25) lost for the eighth straight time against Justin Verlander (7-4). He allowed three runs on eight hits in seven innings.. J.J. Hardy had his 11th and 12th home runs.
NOTES: Kevin Gausman (0-2, 11.00) goes against Detroit’s Rick Porcello (2-2, 5.29) on Sunday.
