Major League Baseball is not playing around when it comes to pitchers abiding by the rules and not having anything on their hands when they are pitching.
The New York Mets found this out the hard way this week.
New York Mets right-hander Drew Smith was ejected from Tuesday night’s Subway Series game against the New York Yankees for cheating. Smith came out of the bullpen to start the seventh inning and was checked for a foreign substance before he took the mound. The umpires checked his hand, then ejected him.
After the game, Smith said he was checked by an MLB official in the tunnel behind the dugout after he was tossed and was told there was “nothing there.”
It should be noted that all four umpires examined his hands after he trotted out to start the seventh inning.
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Foreign-substance ejections come with an automatic 10-game suspension. Smith will now be the second Mets player ejected for having a foreign substance on his hand this season, joining Max Scherzer who was caught back in April. Unlike Scherzer, Smith was not given a warning and the opportunity to wash his hand.
The 29-year-old Smith has a 4.18 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings this season.
Smith has a 3-2 record.
He is a huge loss to the team as the Mets will not be able to replace Smith on the active roster during his suspension and will have to play with 25 players.
