Max Scherzer had a strong outing in Miami, but the night took a turn after a borderline strike call in the second inning set off the Marlins dugout. José Rojas took a pitch on the inside corner that Scherzer and the umpire saw as a strike, but the Marlins didn’t agree. The pitch might have barely clipped the black, but the catcher’s poor framing made it look worse. After some heated words from the bench, one of the Marlins’ coaches, possibly hitting coach Eric Duncan, was tossed for arguing. Don Mattingly walked out calmly, trying to defuse things like a parent managing a kid’s meltdown.
Mic’d-up audio captured Mattingly addressing the umpire in a calm but frustrated tone, emphasizing professionalism while still arguing the point. He brought up issues with calls from earlier in the game, including a questionable high breaker and a check swing that the ump insisted was a strike. Side angle replay showed the batter probably did swing, but Mattingly stayed on the ump, saying they were calling two different games. It never exploded into a full meltdown, but the tension never quite left. Scherzer, meanwhile, kept dealing and getting the borderline calls, adding to Mattingly’s frustration.