Tigers manager A.J. Hinch ejected in fiery scene after controversial challenge call against Mets

With baseball’s two challenge systems, it feels rare when the sport has a managerial ejection with some extra fire.

But A.J. Hinch brought back some of the old days during a Thursday matinee.

The Tigers manager was tossed in the fourth inning of Detroit’s 9-4 loss to the Mets at Citi Field when he boiled over following a controversial decision on a challenge call at third base.

With Gage Workman on second and nobody out in the top half of the frame, Zach McKinstry blooped a single in front of Mets left fielder MJ Melendez.

Workman saw the play in front of him and then bolted for third, but Melendez’s throw to third baseman Brett Baty was in time for a tag and the first out.

Or was it?

Hinch challenged the call, and multiple replays — including one on the big video board in center field — appeared to show Workman not only beat the tag, but stay on the base as Baty kept the glove on him.

After a lengthy review, home plate umpire Jordan Baker announced to the New York crowd that the call on the field stood. Hinch was incensed and started barking toward Baker, who, before turning off his microphone, could be heard saying: “Not me. You’re gone!”

Baker was likely referring to the fact that he was not the one in charge of making the decision on the review, as once a play gets challenged, the decision gets sent to the MLB Replay Command in Manhattan.

Either way, Hinch came barking out the dugout and pointed angrily at the home plate ump after he was officially tossed.

“They showed it on the board, which I think is the biggest board in baseball,” Hinch said afterward, according to The Detroit News. “If they’re going to do that, I’m going to defend my team.”

“[Baker] threw me out from the dugout. I didn’t say anything I thought was worthy of it. And then I’ve got to come out of the dugout. I was very frustrated with it. Just the whole thing, from the play being shown from multiple angles on the field, the fans, players, coaches, me we all watched it. But they didn’t see it in New York

so the call stands. You guys saw the rest.”

He got his money’s worth for about 30 seconds before walking back to the visiting dugout and subsequently the clubhouse.

One pitch later, Spencer Torkelson hit into an inning-ending double play, and the Mets, who were trailing by three runs at the time, rallied for nine runs, largely on the strength of a season-high five home runs.

The Tigers, after getting swept three games in New York, have now lost eight of nine games.

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