Christian Walker wasn’t happy with the strike zone in the fifth inning of a tied game between the Diamondbacks and their opponent. After disagreeing with a called strike and taking a long timeout to let the umpire sit with it, he got caught looking on a check swing to end the at-bat. He clearly carried frustration from the first call into the second and let it show with some pointed comments on his way back to the dugout.
Things escalated an inning later when another check swing went in Arizona’s favor, but then Nick Ahmed was tossed for sarcastically clapping from the bench. Ahmed appeared stunned and insisted he didn’t say anything, just clapped. The ump crew, though, claimed he had been warned due to earlier comments and gestures and said the clapping crossed the line. Field reports added that Ahmed had also yelled while descending the dugout steps, threw his equipment, and kept chirping before taking the field. The clapping was apparently the final straw.
The whole scene turned into a weird ejection saga over what started as minor frustrations with borderline calls. Whether or not sarcastic clapping is grounds for ejection is up for debate, but the umps made it clear they’d had enough.