Fan fury as three MLB stars are ejected for baffling national anthem gesture before their game had started
Three baseball players were bizarrely ejected before a pitch had been thrown on Saturday in the game between the struggling Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays.
Angels reliever Brent Suter and Rays pitchers Steven Wilson and Manuel Rodriguez were tossed by the third-base umpire over what appeared to be a standoff after the national anthem had been played before the game.
Suter remained standing after ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ had finished while across from him, by the first-base dugout, both Wilson and Rodriguez remained in place too – joined by two of the team’s mascots.
To make it all the more strange, Angels leadoff hitter Zach Neto was standing in the batter’s box preparing for the first pitch from Drew Rasmussen.
Eventually, the umpire decided that enough was enough and the players were thrown out of the game before it had even started.
‘Not the coolest way to get ejected, but one of the funnier ways to get ejected,’ Angels pitcher Suter was quoted as saying by The Orange County Register.
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Brent Suter was tossed for a ‘national anthem standoff’
Tampa Bay Rays duo Steven Wilson and Manuel Rodriguez were also ejected with him
It’s unlikely Suter would have been called upon by his team given that he had pitched the day before. Rays duo Wilson and Rodriguez also haven’t played for the Rays at all yet this season due to injury issues.
When the game eventually got underway, the Angels rampaged into a 4-0 lead at the top of the first in Florida and didn’t let up, recording an emphatic 14-3 triumph over their opponents.
But the win leaves the Angels on a 23-36 record for the season, one of the poorest in baseball and Suter’s actions before the game didn’t go over too well with some of the team’s supporters.
‘He should do that every game so he can’t pitch and the bullpen’s ERA goes down,’ one fan wrote about Suter.
Another said: ‘You don’t get to act like a jackass when your team is the worst in the league and you’re a big part of the reason why.’
A different fan wrote on X: ‘Just stupid. How old are you men? 12?’
Others saw the funny side, with one writing: ‘Had someone try to sell me on the idea that anthem standoffs are “disrespectful” the other day lol. These things are the best.’
The Angels and Rays – who lead the American League East with two wins more than the New York Yankees – round out their three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
