The game ended with the Lancaster Barnstormers screaming and manager Rick Wise running to pull third baseman Felix Martinez away from home plate umpire Jesse Redwine.
And, oh yeah, did we mention the Barnstormers won the game?
Lancaster snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-5 win against the York Revolution in front of 3,757 fans at Sovereign Bank Stadium Friday.
And the Revs proved, even in a loss, they can make things interesting.
York scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases with one out, but second baseman Michael Woods made a diving catch on a Rayner Bautista line drive. Woods flipped the ball to first, catching Keoni De Renne between first and second. The throw completed a double play and ended the game.
The line drive out also meant Bautista’s team-record 15-game hitting streak came to an end. The shortstop went 0-for-4.
But the night finally got interesting once the game ended.
Lancaster’s players had been shouting at Redwine during the ninth, complaining about a shrinking strike zone. York (11-4) earned four walks in the final frame, and sent nine batters to the plate.
And as Lancaster (4-11) gathered for the postgame congratulatory handshakes, Martinez pointed at Redwine and shouted as he approached. Wise ran in to make sure the meeting didn’t escalate.
The players “can’t touch an umpire, and I had to get out there and separate them.”*
After the game catcher Lance Burkhart denied Redwine squeezed DePriest in the ninth, and Wise agreed.
“(Burkhart) said there were some borderline pitches, but they were balls,” Wise said. “Burkhart: He knows his strikes and balls. I watched him, and he wasn’t reacting (to the calls).”
Burkhart and Wise said they didn’t know what set off Martinez.
The game was a snoozer up until the ninth-inning bases on balls marathon.
“That game felt like it was going in slow motion,” York manager Chris Hoiles said. “It was just creeping by, but I liked the way the team battled back.”
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