Twins’ Carlos Correa ejected from on-deck circle, and he’s not really sure why

SEATTLE – Carlos Correa has some explaining to do, he knows it. His sons Kylo and Kenzo watch Twins games on TV when he’s on the road, and they’re going to want to know: Why did you get kicked out of Saturday night’s game?

Trouble is, he doesn’t really know.

“I did not say anything to get thrown out,” Correa insisted after the first ejection of his 11-year big-league career.

Even more strangely, Correa was in the on-deck circle when he was ejected. Plate umpire Austin Jones called several borderline pitches at the bottom of the strike zone, ringing up Kody Clemens and Trevor Larnach on such pitches. During the Correa’s at-bat in the fifth inning, Jones called a slider from Seattle lefthander Gabe Speier that appeared to be a couple of inches below the zone strike one, and Correa swung at another low pitch to strike out.

So in the seventh inning, when two consecutive borderline pitches were called strikes on Brooks Lee, Correa complained from the on-deck circle. Jones, who reached the major leagues last summer, suddenly spun and ejected Correa, and manager Rocco Baldelli angrily charged out of the dugout to complain, quickly earning an ejection of his own.

“He called a pitch on me that was a 3-percenter, and I asked him where he had it. Every umpire says, ‘I missed it.’ And he said it was right there, so at that point, I knew that he was having trouble with the strike zone,” Correa said after the Twins’ 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Mariners. “I’m on deck and Brooks is getting some pitches that were borderline. I just said, ‘You’ve got to get them up. You’ve got to make an adjustment. You can’t call that all day.’ That’s all I said. And he threw me out.”

He said Jones acted without warning, but the umpires’ version was a little different. Crew chief Bill Miller told a pool reporter that Correa “argued the strike call on the hitter that was at-bat. Carlos was warned twice to stop. He continued and was ejected.”

Correa — who said “I didn’t think I would ever get ejected in my career” — hotly protested the decision, with Baldelli keeping him away from Jones.

“There’s a reason why he’s had only one. He’s a pretty respectful guy,” Baldelli said after the 17th ejection of his managerial career and his third of the season; he was also ejected May 10 arguing balls and strikes with Correa hitting against San Francisco.

Baldelli continued: “I think it was a premature ejection, but it’s not my job to make those decisions, obviously. But he didn’t say anything personal.”

Correa said that because Jones is so new to the major leagues, he doesn’t have a relationship with him, which probably contributed to the incident.

“He doesn’t know me and he doesn’t know my character and he doesn’t know who I am. I didn’t even think he could hear every word that I said. He just pulled the trigger for some reason,” Correa said. “It was definitely a weird situation because I understand the situation of the game. I understand that I cannot get thrown out so I’m never going to disrespect an umpire, I’m never going to say anything that would make them want to throw me out.”

Lee said he was surprised by the ejection, too, since Correa “didn’t say anything bad. He just let an umpire know he’s doing a bad job. … You can’t be calling balls that are that far down.”

Lee said he appreciated that Correa was sticking up for him.

“I said thank you,” Lee said. “He said, ‘It’s the first time I’ve ever been tossed, so you know I love you.’ “