Rob Thomson blows his stack and gets tossed as the Phillies fall to the Orioles

Zack Wheeler allowed four homers, but home plate umpire Mike Estabrook did him and the Phillies few favors. Thomson got ejected after an argument with the ump.

by Alex Coffey

Published June 16, 2024, 4:52 p.m. ET

BALTIMORE — Jeff Hoffman was sitting in the visitors’ bullpen at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon when he saw manager Rob Thomson walk onto the field. It was the top of the sixth inning. Garrett Stubbs had just jogged to first base, seemingly after being hit by a pitch, but had been ordered to return to the dugout.

The umpires had changed their minds, and Thomson wasn’t happy. He began to get in the face of home plate umpire Mike Estabrook, who ejected him. Thomson continued to argue. His main point of contention was that Estabrook had already awarded the hit-by-pitch to Stubbs.

“The umpires said that they couldn’t see the ball hit Stubby’s foot,” Thomson said. “So I asked, ‘You’re telling me that 200 feet or 130 feet or however far it is, you can’t tell if the ball hits a foot or not?’

“So they tell me, ‘Well, use your challenge,’ and I said, ‘You’ve already awarded him first base. Why don’t you make them use their challenge?’ So, that was it, really. I didn’t quite understand that, but it is what it is.”

The Phillies’ relievers were thoroughly entertained.

“We were just watching and we’re just like, ‘Get him! Get him!’ ” Hoffman said. “It fires us up a little bit. It’s supposed to be fun.”

Added starter Zack Wheeler: “I feel like he kind of got all of our anger out for us. It was great to see Rob standing up for us.”

Added Stubbs: “The first thing I did after the game was go up to him and say how much I appreciated it.”

It was a rare display of emotion from Thomson, who is normally as stoic as they come. But his anger wasn’t just the result of one missed call. Estabrook made a number of consequential blunders over the course of the Phillies’ 8-3 loss to the Orioles.

It’s impossible to say whether it’s the reason they lost, but it certainly had an impact.

“It affects the game, but I mean, as I’ve said before, you’ve just got to play better,” Thomson said. “Umpire calls, whatever it is, you’ve just got to play better.”

Aside from the hit-by-pitch-turned-not-hit-by-pitch, there were two other glaring misses by Estabrook that the Phillies seemed to take exception to. In the Orioles’ first at-bat of the game, Wheeler took shortstop Gunnar Henderson to a 2-2 count and threw a sinker in the upper corner of the strike zone.

Estabrook called it a ball, Henderson fouled off three more pitches, then hit the ninth pitch for a solo home run.

“It was probably a borderline pitch, I still haven’t seen it,” said Wheeler, who allowed a career-high four homers. “I heard it was a strike. But it was probably a borderline pitch, so I didn’t know it at the time. I felt like maybe it was a strike.

“Sometimes umpires are going to miss calls. Just the way the ball rolls sometimes. You just have to put your head down and keep going.”

In the fifth inning, with two outs and runners on the corners, Orioles starter Corbin Burnes worked Bryson Stott to an 0-2 count. His third pitch, a cutter, was just outside the strike zone. Stott took it for a ball, but Estabrook called it a strike, ending the inning.

Stott threw his arms up in exasperation. By the time the sixth inning came around, frustration with Estabrook had reached a boiling point.

The umpires said they changed the hit-by-pitch ruling “because I didn’t get hit,” Stubbs said. “The original argument from the Orioles was that my foot was out of the batter’s box — it wasn’t even that I got hit or didn’t get hit. They didn’t even argue that I did or didn’t get hit, they just argued that my foot was out of the batter’s box. So for them to take it away after that was ...”

It’s been a long road trip. The Phillies have played some good teams, but have also endured some significant travel. It’s possible that the three off-days built into the London Series have had an impact on some of their pitchers. This comes at an inopportune time, given that the lineup has hit .231/.292/.370 over the last seven games. The Phillies lost two of three in Baltimore.

They will return to Citizens Bank Park on Monday with a 47-24 record. They went 3-5 on this eight-game trip.

“It stinks but it’s OK,” Wheeler said of the road trip. “We’ve got a long season ahead of us and we’re really good team. We’ll be all right.”

It was an uncharacteristic day for the right-handed starter, who lasted 4⅓ innings against the Orioles. Wheeler picked up only four strikeouts, tying his second-lowest strikeout total in a game this season, and allowed two walks.

He typically induces a lot of ground balls, but on Sunday, the Orioles were driving the ball in the air. He allowed eight earned runs on nine hits. All of the runs he allowed came on the four homers.

“I [physically] felt great, actually,” Wheeler said. “That’s what’s frustrating about it. I felt great today, held my velo, it’s just one of those days. It stinks. Just got to give people credit sometimes. Just one of those days for me.”

Added Thomson: “Just command, really. All four of those pitches were right down the middle of the plate. Usually he doesn’t do that. So it’s just one of those days.”

Wheeler said after the game that he felt he threw too fastballs early, and needed to mix it up more. It’s hard to glean much from one start, especially a start on the heels of a three-city, international road trip.

Despite Wheeler’s outing, there were some positive takeaways for the Phillies. Alec Bohm, who entered this Boston-Baltimore road trip batting .170/.222/.271 over his last 15 games, had his third multi-hit game in a row. Bohm went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk.

After Wheeler exited, Spencer Turnbull gave his team 2⅔ innings of strong work, allowing just one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. Seranthony Domínguez struck out the side in the eighth inning — retiring Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Ryan Mountcastle in order.

It was another lackluster day for the Phillies’ hitters with runners in scoring position. They went 2-for-14 in those situations. They tried to piece together a late rally in the ninth when Kyle Schwarber walked and Bryce Harper and Stott reached base on a fielding error and a throwing error. But Edmundo Sosa struck out to end the game.

The Phillies want to win every game, but you could tell they really wanted this one.

“That’s a team we wanted to beat,” Hoffman said. “Now, we’ll have to wait further down the road for it.”