The Royals were cruising with a 4-0 lead over the Guardians in the sixth inning when things started to unravel, and Angel Hernandez was right in the middle of it. Brady Singer was dealing, but with two outs and a runner on, Hernandez ruled a 2-2 pitch hit the batter in the jersey. Catcher Salvador Perez immediately challenged it, saying it hit the bat. Replay showed it might have caught the bat knob or maybe the hand, but the call stood. That would’ve been the third out, but instead, the inning continued, and both runners scored.
Then Hernandez called a balk on a pickoff, which looked like the correct call in slo-mo. Royals manager Mike Matheny came out to argue, and while that settled down, more yelling continued from the dugout. Hernandez tossed a coach who was shouting “two bad calls,” and then Matheny backed him up and also got ejected. Brady Singer lost control, got mad, dropped a few F-bombs, and ended up getting run too. Later, that same runner scored, making the damage worse. It all stemmed from one borderline call and ballooned into multiple ejections and blown tempers. Angel Hernandez once again found himself the center of attention.