Seattle Mariners Manager Speaks on His Interaction With Home Plate Umpire Bill Miller
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners earned a crucial 5-4 win on Saturday against the Texas Rangers.
The victory kept the Mariners within 4.5 games of the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West and moved them to 2.5 games out of the third AL Wild Card spot.
Seattle won after Randy Arozarena hit a walk-off RBI single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.
For a moment on Saturday, it looked like Mariners manager Dan Wilson would be watching Arozarena's walk-off from the clubhouse rather than the dugout.
During the bottom of the fifth inning, Seattle first baseman Justin Turner was called out on strikes on a slider from Texas reliever Jack Leiter.
The slider carried down and out according to the strike zone on the MLB Gameday page of the game, and Turner agreed.
Turner argued his case with home plate umpire Bill Miller before Wilson came out to talk to the 25-year MLB official. And for a second it looked like Wilson would earn his first toss in his 33-year MLB career.
Wilson said before Sunday's series finale against the Rangers that he's never been ejected, even dating back to his time as a player.
"Technically we're not supposed to argue balls and strikes," Wilson in a pregame interview Sunday. "But that was a tough call I think on a lot of levels. I was just out there voicing my opinion. ... I didn't think about much else than just getting out there between (Turner) and the umpire. I thought we had a decent conversation, so we'll leave it at that."
An incredibly rare sight: Dan Wilson, angry. pic.twitter.com/0oulql1VfY
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) September 15, 2024
Wilson has a lot of experience dealing with close calls from umpires dating back to his time as a catcher and actually shed some light on the what the relationship is like between players at that position and home plate umps.
"I think when you're subjected to foul tips, you're kind of all in the same boat. So you kind of bond in a way that way," Wilson said. "A lot of courtesy between each other when that does happen. Obviously some guys are more chatty than others. But it is something that — you're back there together, you're grinding together back there. So it is nice to have each other's back from time to time."
Some fans get a kick out of seeing managers ejected and looking forward to the potential JomBoy lip-reading video that follows.
But Wilson prevented Turner (who hit a double later in the game) from getting ejected and pled his case against a questionable call.
And Seattle won the game. Mission accomplished all the way around.
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