PHILADELPHIA — Tampa Bay Rays reliever Edwin Uceta was ejected from the team’s 9-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night after hitting Nick Castellanos with a pitch.
Castellanos, for his part, said he knew it was coming.
Uceta gave up a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning to pinch-hitter Cal Stevenson, then proceeded to give up a Buddy Kennedy RBI single, a two-run Trea Turner homer and a Bryce Harper double before Castellanos stepped to the plate.
Uceta’s pitch hit the Phillies slugger on the hip and caused both benches and bullpens to empty and the players to gather on the infield grass.
“I had an overwhelming sense that I was about to get drilled,” Castellanos said. “We all just got a sense of what it was — he was just [ticked] off that he got hit around and his ERA shot through the roof.”
Uceta, who entered the game with a 0.79 ERA, said it was not a purpose pitch and claimed it was a changeup; MLB’s StatCast said it was a 96 mph sinker.
The Phillies, though, didn’t believe him.
“You’re frustrated and you’re going to throw at somebody,” he said. “That’s like my 2-year-old throwing a fit because I took away his dessert before he was finished.”
Harper said what happened has no place in baseball.
“That’s not the game that we play, man,” he said. “It shouldn’t be. Guys throw too hard nowadays. You’re getting mad because a guy hits a homer off you or you blow the lead, walk the guy and come out of the game.
“The situation, the whole thing, just really fired me up, really upset me. Just not something you should accept as Major League Baseball.”
Harper briskly marched toward the mound shouting at the Rays’ pitcher after it happened. He said he stopped himself from a physical altercation because Uceta never turned around to look at him.
“I didn’t want to be a loser and come up behind him,” Harper said. “If he’s going to turn around, then all right, let’s go.”
Harper had three doubles in a game for the third time in his career and the first time since August 2021.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.