PHILADELPHIA — Tampa Bay Rays reliever Edwin Uceta was sent off the team in a 9-4 defeat to Philadelphia Phillies on the third night after the attack Nick Castellanos with a football field.
For his part, Castellanos said he knew it was coming.
Uceta gave up a tie-breaking double in the eighth inning to bat in a substitution. Cal Stevensonthen continue to give up one Kennedy Single RBI, two runs Trea Turner Homer and a Bryce Harper doubled before Castellanos stepped up to the plate.
Uceta’s ball hit a Phillies player in the hip and left both the bench and bullpen area empty and players gathered on the infield grass.
“I had this overwhelming feeling that I was about to be drilled,” Castellanos said. “We all felt it — he just [ticked] that he was getting hit and his ERA was skyrocketing.”
Uceta, who came in with a 0.79 ERA, said it wasn’t an intentional pitch and insisted it was a changeup; MLB’s StatCast said it was a 96 mph sinker.
However, the Phillies did not believe him.
“You get frustrated and you throw a fit,” he said. “Like my 2-year-old threw a tantrum because I took away his dessert before he finished eating.”
Harper said what happened has no place in baseball.
“That’s not the game we play, man,” he said. “That’s not how it should be. Guys throw too hard these days. You get mad because a guy hits a homer on you or you blow the leadoff hitter, walk the guy and you’re out of the game.
“This situation, the whole thing, really makes me angry, really upset. But that’s not something you should accept in Major League Baseball.”
Harper quickly walked toward the mound and yelled at the Rays pitcher after the incident. He said he stopped himself from getting into a fight because Uceta never looked back at him.
“I don’t want to be the loser and go after him,” Harper said. “If he’s going to come back, then fine, let’s go.”
Harper had three double-doubles in a game for the third time in his career and first time since August 2021.
This report uses information from The Associated Press.
