LOS ANGELES — For more than a minute, Max Scherzer argued with home plate umpire Dan Bellino and team boss Phil Cuzzi Wednesday afternoon, with his right hand outstretched throughout most of the exchange. With Mets manager Buck Showalter standing beside him, Scherzer pleaded his case and repeatedly told the umpires that he used nothing but rosin to grab the baseball.
Cuzzi then threw Scherzer out, leaving the Mets in a pitching tie that could last well beyond their 5-3 win over the Dodgers in the series finals due to a possible suspension looming.
Scherzer first met with Bellino midway through the second inning for a routine sticky check that has been part of MLB protocol since 2021. During that exchange, according to both parties, Cuzzi told Scherzer that his hand was too sticky, that he needed to wash up, and that he would be checked again before returning to the mound for the third time.
So Scherzer descended into the Dodger Stadium visitors’ clubhouse and washed his hands with alcohol in front of an MLB official. But when Scherzer returned for the third inning, Cuzzi said his glove was “sticky” with a foreign substance that Scherzer claimed was rosin — the only substance a pitcher can legally use provided it gets directly on his hands applied, not to his glove or his uniform. Cuzzi asked Scherzer to exchange his glove for a new one, which he did before fixing the side.
When Scherzer returned to the end of the fourth, Cuzzi stopped him again, prompting Scherzer to vividly argue his case. After about a minute, Cuzzi threw him out of the house for illegally using a foreign substance, which drew further complaints from Scherzer until Showalter led him away from the commotion.
“[Cuzzi] said my hand was too sticky,” Scherzer said. “I said, ‘I swear on my kids’ lives, I don’t use anything else. It’s sweat and rosin, sweat and rosin.” I say it over and over and they touch my hand, they say it’s sticky. Yes it is, because it’s sweat and rosin. They say it’s too sticky. They kicked me out because of it.”
“Both Phil and I touched his hand,” Bellino said through a pool reporter. “In terms of stickiness and stickiness level, this has been the stickiest since I’ve been inspecting hands, which is now three seasons ago. Compared to the first inning, the stickiness was so sticky that when we touched his hand, our fingers were stuck to his hand. And whatever was on it stayed on our fingers for a couple of innings after that, where you could still feel the fingers stuck together.”
Jimmy Yacabonis came on relieved and had unlimited time to warm up as Scherzer abruptly left, not allowing runs past three innings on his return after a mild bout of back pain. When Brandon Nimmo hit a two-run homer from former teammate Noah Syndergaard in the fifth, the Mets roared their approval from the visitors’ dugout.
“The guys were pretty excited,” said Nimmo.
This wasn’t Scherzer’s first disagreement with umpires over a sticky substance check. In 2021, at the Nationals, Scherzer threw his cap on the ground, unbuckled his belt and desperately began removing his pants after Phillies manager Joe Girardi called for multiple substance checks from the dugout. After that game, Scherzer discussed at length his process of using sweat and rosin to pin baseballs on the mound.
Wednesday marked the fourth throw of Scherzer’s career, but it was the first time he’d been thrown while actively participating in a game. The early exit aggravated a recent pitching crunch for the Mets, which could worsen if MLB discovers that Scherzer did in fact use sticky substances in an illegal manner. Should the league decide against him, he would face a 10-game suspension, with an opportunity to appeal like MLB pitchers Hector Santiago and Caleb Smith did after sticky ejections in 2021.
The umpire crew plans to submit a report of the incident to MLB, which the Commissioner’s Office will review to determine if a suspension is warranted. Under league guidelines, rosin is legal for pitchers to use on their wrists and forearms “to aid in sweat management,” but they are prohibited from putting it on their gloves and uniforms. Combining rosin with other foreign substances such as sunscreen is also illegal.
“We understand there are repercussions for taking a pitcher out of the game,” Bellino said. “We take that very seriously.”
Scherzer, whose spin rates matched his season norms, claimed that he “would have to be a complete jerk” to use a non-rosin substance after the referee’s initial check.
“Now it becomes a legal matter,” said Scherzer. “I don’t want to comment on what happens next, whether I’ll be suspended or not. Lets see what happens.”