Batter Keon Broxton of the Seattle Mariners had a minor hissy fit after a questionable third-strike call during a 5-4 loss to the visiting Yankees on Monday.
He dismissively flipped his bat, tossed his helmet off his head and then flicked his batting glove behind him.
Maybe he should have looked on that last one. The glove glanced off home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez’s face, and Gonzalez ejected Broxton immediately.
“I didn’t know I hit him until I turned around and he told me,” Broxton said, per MLB.com. “I just heard the crowd after a couple seconds after I let the batting glove release. I turned around and he said, ‘You hit me in the face. You’re out.’ I was like, ‘Argh. I did not mean to do that at all.’
It was Broxton’s first career ejection. At least he made it memorable.
Here’s a longer look at the moment.
Broxton hasn’t been hitting much else so far this season. He’s batting .173 and has struck out in half of his at-bats.
And now he has the wrong kind of viral moment to add to his misery.
“The odds of that happening are very slim,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate it happened, but it’s all on me. That’s a lesson learned. I can handle things in a better way. I could have just walked to the dugout and put my stuff down and gone back out there, regardless of how I felt about the call. I take full responsibility for it.”
