Rays lefty David Price held the White Sox to three runs over seven innings en route to an 8-3 victory, his first of the season, but Price was furious thanks to umpire Tom Hallion. Walking towards the dugout after the seventh, Price said a few choice words to Hallion before leaving. Shortly thereafter, Hallion appeared to eject Price but it was actually Jeremy Hellickson, who was also yelling at Hallion from the dugout.
Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted about the exchange:
#Rays Price says bench was upset because home plate umpire Tom Hallion told him to “throw the ball over the f-in plate”
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 28, 2013
#rays Price said he said nothing to provoke Hallion and that for Hallion to speak to him that way was “terrible”
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 28, 2013
Umpire Tom Hallion, to pool reporter, on #Rays @davidprice14‘s laim he cursed him: “I’ll come right out bluntly and say he’s a liar,’
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 28, 2013
There is a lot more, but it’s mostly a “he said, he said” battle. Rays pitchers took to Twitter to defend Hellickson and explain the situation:
Right and the most quiet guy in #mlb got ejected from the game RT @looneybird14999: @davidprice14 Ump says you lied to reporters...
— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) April 28, 2013
There’s only one person lying about all this and his name starts with a T and rhymes with pom
— Jeremy Hellickson(@JHell58) April 28, 2013
Lies! lies i tell you! RT @tbtimes_rays: Umpire Hallion said to Price:"I said, “Just throw the ball.” That’s all I said to him’
— Matt Moore(@MattyMoe55) April 28, 2013
There’s more if you have the urge to check out Price’s Twitter feed.
We will certainly be hearing more about this.
