


Veteran umpire Phil Cuzzi got scrappy with the Astros dugout on Tuesday night.
With the Orioles leading the Astros 7-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Jose Abreu was up for Houston with an 0-1 count when all of a sudden Cuzzi sprung up, removed his mask and started yelling toward the Houston dugout.
Cuzzi was caught on a hot mic getting profane.
“I’m not gonna listen to you. I’m not gonna listen to you. F–k me? F– you!” Cuzzi yelled at the Astros dugout before ejecting their hitting coach Alex Cintron.
It is common for managers to get ejected from games, but not quite so much for hitting coaches.
It’s unclear what Cintron was specifically upset about.
Nonetheless, this marked Cintron’s second ejection this season and fifth since 2019.
Cintron, 44, played for the Diamondbacks, White Sox, Orioles and Nationals in an MLB career that spanned from 2001-09.
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He first became an assistant with the Astros in 2018 and was promoted to hitting coach the following season.
Players on the Astros seem to appreciate that Cintron backs them up over perceived erroneous calls.
“He’s played before, he understands what we’re going through, where we’re coming from and he’s just a smart baseball man. You always want to gravitate towards dudes like that, learn the game through their eyes as well,” shortstop Jeremy Peña told The Athletic in June.
“We all have each other’s backs here. You want coaches that care and he cares about his players.”
After getting ejected by umpire Jeremy Layne earlier this season, Cintron said he was trying to control his emotions over calls.
“I didn’t like that. I thought it was unprofessional [from Layne]. But besides that, I’ve been really calm. I’m not yelling like I used to,” Cintrón told The Athletic. “That’s a lot of stress here, a lot of pressure when the hitters aren’t doing good, but I just like to do my work with no stress about it.”