Indians' Trevor Bauer heaves ball over outfield wall in mound tantrum after being pulled from dismal outing
Maybe those Bauer trade rumors will get even hotter after his Sunday meltdown
The Indians on Sunday barged to a 3-0 lead over the Royals in the first inning (CLE-KC GameTracker). With the ace-ish Trevor Bauer on the mound, it figured to be a good day for Cleveland as the team looked to pull even with the Twins in the AL Central. Instead, here's how Bauer's day wound up:
More notable than the numbers is how Bauer comported himself upon being pulled from the game in the fifth inning. The summary:
Never seen that before. Trevor Bauer gave up two runs and chucked the ball into the netting behind home plate out of anger after the play. Terry Francona then came out to get him and before he left, he launched the ball over the center field wall from the mound.
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) July 28, 2019
And here are some relevant moving pictures:
So, um Bauer is really reaaaaaally unhappy. Holy cow. 😬#AlwaysRoyal pic.twitter.com/TJDh6ynMOu
— FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) July 28, 2019
Impromptu long toss! Visible frustration on the mound isn't all that uncommon when a pitcher is being pulled from the game, but this is on another level. He could've hurt someone, as the story goes. Speaking of which, infielder Mike Freeman seemed to fear for an instant that he was in the line of fire:
As you would expect, veteran manager Terry Francona was none too pleased with Bauer:
And here is what Bauer did prior to Francona coming out to get him on the mound (@SportsTimeOhio) pic.twitter.com/Z6KCxkYl0Z
— Keith Britton (@KeithBritton86) July 28, 2019
Bauer seemed to have realized the error of his ways pretty quickly, but that likely did not spare him from a stern conversation with his skipper. He did, however, apologize afterward:
Trevor Bauer opened with an apology before taking any questions after throwing a ball over the center-field wall out of frustration in today’s game: pic.twitter.com/FUMxILdGmd
— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) July 28, 2019
After Sunday's stinker, the 28-year-old Bauer has a 3.73 ERA/4.16 FIP through 156 2/3 innings this season. Despite the Indians' contending status, Bauer has been heavily rumored to be available in trade. This little outburst might make it more likely that he's donning new threads by Wednesday's deadline.
