Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell was tossed after umpires told New York Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt to wash his hands following a foreign-substance check during Friday’s game.
Schmidt was allowed to remain in the contest after throwing four-shutout innings versus the Reds.
“There’s like black fur inside of the glove, and throughout the game, sweating and rosin built up on the back of my wrist,” Schmidt said postgame, according to YES Network.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone corroborated Schmidt’s account of what happened.
“He has a black glove. So, when they checked it, it was black here (wrist), which is basically the black fur of the glove by the middle innings with rosin and sweat,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, according to YES Network. “Just that color got to his wrist. So, they wanted him to wash his wrist.”
Crew chief Brian O’Nora echoed similar thoughts.
“It was that fuzz from the inside part of his glove, I think,” Nora said, according to Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “As a crew, we told him to go wash it off. He washed it off. Nothing was on his hand. It wasn’t sticky, and it wasn’t a foreign substance.”
Coincidently, the spin rate of Schmidt’s breaking pitches was up significantly during his start against the Reds.
The incident comes after Yankees right-hander Domingo German was suspended Wednesday for 10 games for violating the MLB’s foreign-substance policy. The 30-year-old was caught with an illegal substance during his start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.
What made German’s ejection even more bizarre was that the umpire crew working the contest was the same one that checked German multiple times during a start against the Minnesota Twins on April 15. He was asked to wash off rosin from his hands but was allowed to stay in the game. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was also ejected for disputing the decision.
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