Carlos Mendoza was not happy with home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz on Saturday afternoon.
So much so that the Mets manager’s day was cut short after getting ejected in the bottom of the fourth inning after arguing over what seemed to be an issue with the strike zone.
Mendoza looked unhappy in the top half of the frame when third baseman Mark Vientos took a 3-0 pitch that appeared below the strike zone that Ortiz called a strike anyway.
Vientos lined out to second base two pitches later to end the inning.
With the Pirates’ Adam Frazier up with one out in the bottom half of the inning, Ortiz called the first pitch a ball, which seemingly irked Mendoza enough to jaw with the ump, getting tossed before getting his money’s worth in a fiery argument on the field.
It was Mendoza’s first ejection of the season.
Bench coach John Gibbons took over as acting manager.
