ST. LOUIS — Torey Lovullo claimed his Diamondbacks were being framed.
The manager set off a benches-clearing incident in his team’s 4-1 win over the Cardinals on Sunday by maintaining eight-time All-Star catcher Yadier Molina was earning unwarranted strike calls.
“I don’t want to say he is getting more than anyone else, because it’s part of the game,” Lovullo said. “I have the upmost respect for Yadier Molina. He’s one of the best catchers the game has ever seen. It was more of me saying, I respect him on that level, that he’s getting special things because he’s that good. That’s where I was coming from.”
Lovullo was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons in the second inning. Lovullo was arguing a called third strike on A.J. Pollock and got into a shouting match with Molina. The catcher appeared to lunge at Luvollo and made contact as players ran onto the field.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny stepped between Molina and Lovullo.
Lovullo had shown displeasure on a strike three call to David Peralta in the first inning, then went to the umpire after the call against Pollock.
“I used a poor choice of words and [Molina] took offense to it,” Lovuollo said. “I wish I could take back what I said.
It really wasn’t directed at him. I was just frustrated over what I was watching.”
Molina remained upset after the game.
“He said a bad word to me and I reacted that way,” Molina said. “He called me [it] twice. You can’t allow that.”
Timmons explained what he saw and heard to media.
“So when Lovullo got to me after I had ejected him, he made a comment that was aggressive that Yadi overheard, so that’s why Yadi reacted the way that he did,” the umpire said. “I think at that point Yadi became agitated, which was understandable. [The contact] was just incidental.”
Pollock was walking back to the dugout at the time.
“I never thought someone arguing a third strike call was going to create a benches-clearing brawl,” Pollock said. “But we stuck together as a team. We all have Torey’s back.”
Peralta hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Dominic Leone in the eighth, and Pollock went deep later in the inning. In his second year in charge, Lovullo got his 100th win and was given a postgame beer shower by his coaches.
Photo: Jeff Roberson (AP)
A balls-and-strikes argument between Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and home plate umpire Tim Timmons went in an unexpected direction this afternoon, when Lovullo apparently said something to Timmons that pissed off Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina:
This started with Timmons ringing up A.J. Pollock on a low strike. Pollock disagreed with the call, and before long Lovullo made his way out, where he was summarily ejected. Lovullo can be seen gesturing angrily towards at least the Cardinals, if not Molina personally, and suddenly Timmons goes from defending himself from Lovullo’s wrath to defending Lovullo from Molina! A donnybrook!
It’s hard to imagine what Lovullo could’ve said that would’ve been more offensive to Molina than to Timmons, but I am particularly enjoying how quickly Lovullo goes from righteous anger to stunned surrender. Whoa, what’d I say? Whatever it was, it overshot the target!
It wasn't exactly Pedro Martinez and Don Zimmer, but Yadier Molina and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo got into a heated benches-clearing altercation on Sunday.
The blowup started in the second inning after a strike-three call on A.J. Pollock that appeared to be slightly below the strike zone. Lovullo went out to argue the call, and that's when things quickly got out of hand.
In a reportedly profanity-laced tirade, Lovullo ranted to home plate umpire Tim Timmons that Molina was deceiving him and manipulating the strike zone.
"You can't let that motherf---er make balls into strikes!" Lovullo appeared to shout while pointing at Molina, according to The Athletic.
The comment immediately set Molina off, as the Cardinals catcher lunged at Lovullo, resulting in both benches clearing.
Both Timmons and Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had to step in front of Molina and separate him and Lovullo. No punches were thrown, however, and both benches eventually returned to their respective dugouts.
Yadier Molina (l) and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo got into a heated benches-clearing altercation on Sunday. (Chris Lee/TNS)
"He said a bad word to me and I reacted that way," Molina said after the game. "He called me (it) twice. You can't allow that."
Lovullo was ejected for coming out of the dugout and arguing balls and strikes, while Molina was allowed to remain in the game.
After the game, Lovullo said he regret his outburst.
"I used a poor choice of words and he (Molina) took offense to it," Lovuollo said. "I wish I could take back what I said. It really wasn't directed at him. I was just frustrated over what I was watching."
The Diamondbacks beat the Cardinals 4-1.
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Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina have to be separated by the home plate umpire after a heated argument over a strike call clears the benches. (1:27)
The St. Louis Cardinals' Yadier Molina had to be restrained Sunday after Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo gestured at the catcher while he was arguing a called third strike against outfielder A.J. Pollock.
Molina was restrained initially by plate umpire Tim Timmons and then by manager Mike Matheny after both benches cleared during the incident, which occurred in the top of the second inning.
"(Lovullo) called me a m-----f----- twice," Molina said after the game, which the Diamondbacks won 4-1, according to KPNX-TV. "If you're going to call somebody that, you better be ready to fight."
Molina said he hopes Major League Baseball will consider fining Lovullo for his comments.
"You can't talk to a player like that. Or an umpire. You've got to be professional," he said, according to MLB.com.
Lovullo was ejected for leaving the dugout to argue balls and strikes. Timmons, in comments to a pool reporter, called Molina's contact with him "incidental" in explaining why the catcher wasn't ejected.
Lovullo acknowledged after the game that he "used a poor choice of words" but said he had "the utmost respect" for Molina.
"The first thing I want to say is I have the utmost respect for Yadier Molina. He's one of the best catchers the game's ever seen," he said.
"I just was going out there to talk about something with the umpire and was referencing something and used a poor choice of words and he took offense to it. I wish I could take back what I said but it really wasn't really directed at him. It was more a term of me saying I respect him on that level that he's getting certain things because he's that good," he said.
He acknowledged that he "was frustrated over what I was watching" and "probably took things a little too far."
The victory was Lovullo's 100th as the Diamondbacks' manager.
