Things got strange during a Reds vs. White Sox game that turned into a walk parade and ended with an ejection. The Reds cycled through a string of patient at-bats, each walk punctuated with increasingly creative bat tosses. Jesse Winker started with a casual forward drop. Brian Goodwin followed with a clean swing-and-launch. Freddy Galvis kept it simple. Joey Votto added flair by switching hands before tossing it behind. Eugenio Suarez delivered a smooth pivot and drop. It was more bat choreography than baseball.
After a brief break from the walks with a base hit and a questionable hit-by-pitch on Winker, Goodwin came up again with the bases loaded. The first pitch was clearly a strike, which he argued. The second pitch looked low and drew more complaints. He struck out and muttered something quiet about the call. That was enough for the umpire, who wasted no time tossing Goodwin. From the mound, Goodwin responded by lightly tossing the ball back to home plate, landing it perfectly on the rubber like a veteran pitcher. It was smooth and precise. Manager David Bell came out to chat, clearly dissatisfied, but nothing much came of it. The ejection felt fast and unnecessary. The umpire’s reaction shut things down just as the inning had finally started to move.