Ron Gardenhire got tossed again, making it his seventh ejection of the season, the most in MLB so far. The drama started when Soto threw an inside fastball to push Dozier off the plate, setting up an outside off-speed pitch. The catcher thought it landed perfectly for a strike, Soto thought he had it, but the umpire disagreed. On the very next pitch, Dozier made them pay, ripping a double down the line that drove in a run. Gardenhire had seen enough and came out to argue.
He claimed he wasn’t disputing balls and strikes, just pointing out a missed call. The ump didn’t buy it and ejected him quickly. Gardenhire shot back that the strike call was terrible, then wandered off still grumbling as the cameras followed him. The ejection puts him just one away from tying his career high for a single season, and it’s not even the All-Star break yet. The umpire later explained he felt the call was fair and didn’t like getting yelled at. Gardenhire didn’t hold back, and neither did the ump.