Balk call leaves Orioles fuming in 5-3 loss to Mariners

Orioles reliever Darren O'Day has been called for two balks in a major league career spanning 11 seasons and 576 games. Umpire Stu Scheurwater, hired in December to a full-time position, is responsible for both of them.

Tonight's call in the ninth inning led to O'Day's first career ejection and the 32nd for manager Buck Showalter in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners at Camden Yards.

O'Day appeared to retire Nelson Cruz on a popup to Chris Davis in foul territory after Mitch Hanigan's leadoff single. O'Day raced toward first base, pointing at the ball, before realizing that Hanigan had been awarded second base.

Showalter raced out of the dugout to separate O'Day from Scheurwater, picked up the argument and was tossed. He also was ejected after Scheurwater's balk call on April 30, 2017 at Yankee Stadium following O'Day's pickoff throw to second base.

Asked what Scheurwater, an umpire in the majors since 2014, is seeing that leads to balk calls that other umpires don't make, Showalter replied, "What's he seeing? He's just over-umpiring. Inventing an argument. Doesn't have to be. Same thing happened in New York.

"Same way he messed up the swing on (Dee) Gordon, too. And you've got the third base umpire looking at it, second base umpire looking at it, the first base umpire can't see. And seeing something ... Basically just creating an argument that shouldn't be there. It's unfortunate. Hopefully, the league will get it corrected."

O'Day rarely shows this kind of emotion. He charged after Scheurwater, pointing at him and yelling, and tried to maneuver around Showalter.

"He's had two balks in his whole career, I think," Showalter said. "Both have been by the same guy. That would probably upset you, too. But we walked 10 guys. Didn't have but four hits. Kind of hard to win a game. But we got some big outs in situations to stay connected."

Zach Britton was forced into the game and got a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to keep the margin at two runs.

"I'd love to hear an explanation," O'Day said. "I don't know what it could possibly be. I've seen the video. Pretty clear stop. It's the same thing I've been doing for many years now. And just over a calendar year, I've gotten balked by the same guy in tight situations, and that's kind of why I have to apologize to my mom tonight for all those swear words I said."

Showalter stayed in the dugout to watch Britton warm up and was furious afterward that Scheurwater didn't give the closer, in only his seventh game since coming off the disabled list, more time after coming in cold.

"Probably what bothers me the most is the guy out there rushing Zach to get ready," Showalter said. "I will talk to the league office about that. That's totally unacceptable and unprofessional.

"I'll take care of it."

Crew chief Gary Cederstrom attempted via a pool reporter to explain what happened on the balk call, delayed while Davis ran toward the railing to make the catch.

"The plate umpire called the balk and then the pitch came in, so obviously he can't be standing up and pointing, he's got a pitch coming in, because the play is not over yet,' Cederstrom said. "Then the ball was hit and you still have to let the play go through because the hitter has got an opportunity to hit and reach base, OK?

"Then, after that, is when Stu informed that he had a balk. That was heard around the home plate area, but people out on the bases, the runner or whatever, so once the out is recorded, then Stu came out and said, 'I've got a balk and the runner goes to second base and the hitter gets to come back to the plate.'"

O'Day was tossed for whatever he yelled at Scheurwater. It's safe to assume it wasn't friendly.

"Just his choice of words directed at me," Scheurwater said. "It's going to be in the report, though."

O'Day mentioned the previous balk in his argument, according to Scheurwater

"He did say that that's twice we've had a situation, yes," Scheurwater said.

Showalter was gone shortly after O'Day as the crowd cheered.

"Buck came out and he continued to argue," Scheurwater said. "That's pretty much how it goes down."

O'Day said he's been warned in the past about his move, but the only ejections have come from Scheurwater and tonight's episode left him more confused.

"That's usually how most umpires handle it," O'Day said. "They say, 'Hey, O'Day, make sure you come to a stop.' Sure, no problem. So I respect the hell out of umpires. They have a hard job. They really do. But I don't know what's going on.

"I still don't even know for sure who called it because nobody held their hands up or called time or yelled balk or anything. A fan could have yelled balk. I don't know. Or the other team. I don't really know because nobody explained it to me."

Britton was the only available reliever because Showalter didn't want to use Mychal Givens or Mike Wright Jr. He threw 13 pitches.

"The most unfortunate part about it is that after I lost it and got ejected, Zach had to come in and pitch and then they rushed him warming up, which is just ludicrous, because he was probably sitting down there chewing gum and not even thinking he was going to pitch," O'Day said, still working on the one question posed to him after the game.

"So now you've got to use a guy, we've got a thin bullpen, and you've got to use a guy and now that hurts us tomorrow."

Said Showalter: "He's the only guy left down there that I would pitch. I'm not going to pitch Givens tonight, obviously not Mike Wright. It's like we do every night, we sit down about 45 minutes before game time after Roger (McDowell) has gathered all the information and we talk about the health. I'm very proud of the health of our people and I'm going to keep it that way.

"That's as bothersome as anything. It's not so much that Zach, physically he would have pitched tonight if we had a different situation anyway. He was available to pitch, but to cold turkey him like that, I just didn't have any options other than a position player at 5-3."

The game was lost in the seventh inning when Miguel Castro, who replaced starter Andrew Cashner, loaded the bases on a single and two walks. A wild pitch and Haniger's sacrifice fly gave Seattle a 5-3 lead.

"It's been a challenge for him," Showalter said of the walks. "That's been the last piece, where he comes in and throws strike one. You're hoping at some point he graduates from that. He's got too good of stuff to be picking around in the zone early in the count. He puts himself in some bad situations that he shouldn't be in. He has that sometimes.

"You look at the walk totals, that's why there's a lot more to the picture. When he's good, he's been real good and we when he struggles, it's been with command."