A shiny ear stirred up controversy at a Main League Baseball recreation Sunday. Mets supervisor Buck Showalter requested San Diego Padres beginning pitcher Joe Musgrove's ear be checked as a result of it appeared shiny, CBS Sports activities studies.
When umpires examined Musgrove's ear, they cleared him of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Mets followers discovered the ear suspiciously sweaty and voiced theories that a international substance was on his ear.
Earlier this yr, the MLB up to date its steering on international substances, which states umpires will examine pitchers' gloves, hats and belts for sticky substances that could possibly be transferred to the ball as a solution to cheat. They will even study their fingers and fingers at random factors all through the sport.
"Any pitcher who possesses or applies international substances can be topic to quick ejection from the sport and suspended mechanically in accordance with the principles. If a participant apart from the pitcher is discovered to have utilized a international substance to the ball, each the place participant and pitcher can be ejected," the MLB says.
MLB reporter AJ Cassavell tweeted in protection of Musgrove, saying he "is usually a sweaty dude when he pitches."
"Umps checked him out. Particularly, they checked the sweat on his ear. They're happy with what they noticed, evidently. No sticky stuff. The sport goes on," he wrote.
The Mets' season ended with the Padres' 6-0 win within the wildcard recreation. Musgrove allowed just one hit and one stroll in seven innings, in accordance with CBS Sports activities.
Mets announcer Gary Cohen mentioned Showalter is "utterly inside his rights to ask the umpires to examine a pitcher for international substances," however "contemplating the circumstances, 4-0, sixth inning, season on the road, it smacked of desperation and was pretty embarrassing." The dwell commentary was met with boos from Mets followers on the stadium.
Musgrove known as the Mets' try to throw him out of the sport "determined," CBS Sports activities social media supervisor Danny Vietti studies.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen mentioned he ensures "Musgrove has Pink Sizzling on his ears."
"Pitchers use it as mechanism to remain locked in throughout video games. It burns like loopy and IDK why some guys thinks it helps them however under no circumstances is it 'sticky.' Buck is sensible tho. Might be attempting to simply throw him off," he tweeted.
Nonetheless, photographs of the shiny ear circulated on social media, with many nonetheless skeptical. "They simply checked Joe Musgrove and located nothing. I am shocked. Nobody's ear sweats that a lot," tweeted Jordan Moore, who covers social media and sports activities at The Atlantic.