Washington Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas was not the only one unhappy with second-year MLB umpire Emil Jimenez on Thursday.
Thomas, 28, was ejected for the first time in his career during the sixth inning of the Nationals’ 7-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers in their series finale on Thursday, but fans were outraged by the bizarre circumstances that led to that ejection.
Thomas was struck out on a questionable strike call on a 2-2 count when he appeared to briefly look behind him toward Jimenez.
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Jimenez, who made his major league debut in 2023, did not hesitate to throw Thomas out of the game despite audio showing that Thomas did not say a word to him after the call was made.
“What?” Thomas could be heard shouting in disbelief. “Are you s—-ing me? I didn’t look at you, it was at the ball!”
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Ex-MLB player and current Nationals’ announcer Kevin Frandsen ripped the call during Thursday’s broadcast.
“We literally have video and voice audio. He never said anything that — that’s just bad. That makes me even more mad.”
“That’s just a bad job by Emil Jimenez right there,” Frandsen also noted. “Look, he called it a strike. And he said [Thomas] directed something at him with a bad word. Lane doesn’t say that word. So we have a liar.”
The Nationals’ five-game win streak would end with Thursday’s loss. The ejection marked Thomas’ first of his MLB career and the 76th ejection of the regular season.
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