Cleveland Guardians Pitching Coach Ejected After Arguing With Umpire

Cleveland Guardians' Carl Willis was ejected after an argument with the home plate umpire.

Sep 21, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis (51) runs on the field during a visit to the mound in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Tensions are once again getting high for the Cleveland Guardians, and they boiled over in the second game of their doubleheader with the Kansas City Royals.

Cleveland's pitching coach, Carl Willis, was ejected in the top of the sixth inning following a short argument with home plate umpire John Tumpane.

Pedro Avila was on the mound for the Guardians, while Garrett Hampson was in the box for Kansas City. The Royals hitter had two strikes and swung and foul-tipped a pitch, but it was not called strike three because Tumpane ruled the ball hit the ground before entering Bo Naylor's glove.

Willis was clearly frustrated and yelled the magic words from the dugout, which prompted him to exit the game early.

This same play occurred just one inning earlier with Salvador Perez at the plate. It was clear in that play that the ball had hit the dirt, but the pitch Avila threw was much closer.

May 7, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis (51) walks on the field in the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Hampson went on to get a base hit later in the at-bat, which sparked a rally for Kansas City, which ended with a grand slam from Perez.

All of this comes on a tough day for Guardians pitchers. The Guardians used Nick Sandlin as an opener in game one of the doubleheaders and used five more pitchers after him to get through the game. Logan Allen took the mound for game two and gave up five earned runs and eight hits in 5.0 innings pitched.

Willis never appears to get upset, but clearly the emotions were high today.