Zac Gallen was on the mound facing Manny Machado with two outs in the first inning. Gallen threw four straight fastballs, working the count to 3-1 before surprising Machado with a curveball. Manny took a big swing but missed. As the at-bat continued, the pitch clock came into play. Machado stayed in the batter’s box, watching the timer closely. He tried to call timeout just as the clock hit eight seconds, thinking he had until it dropped to seven. But the rules require the batter to be set by eight seconds, not during it.
The home plate umpire, wearing a buzzer that cues when the batter is late, ruled Machado wasn’t ready in time. An argument followed. Manny insisted he had called time appropriately. The ump disagreed. As frustration boiled over, Machado called the umpire a “douchebag.” That ended the debate quickly. The ump tossed Machado, and the Padres manager came out to argue, mostly in disbelief. The ump stood his ground, pointing out the insult and insisting the ejection was justified. The whole incident came down to a misunderstanding of a small but crucial clock rule, with emotions running high early in the game.