Boston Red Sox starter Walker Buehler was ejected in the third inning of Tuesday night’s win over the Mets, and while Francisco Lindor had some fun with the moment, Buehler apparently didn’t find it amusing.
After hitting Lindor in the back foot with a breaking ball and arguing that Lindor didn’t try to get out of the way, Buehler then argued with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook about a ball that was called as Lindor swiped second base.
Buehler barked at Estabrook and quickly got the hook, as Lindor seemed to playfully take delight in the banter, signaling for Estabrook to eject the pitcher.
Red Sox starting pitcher Walker Buehler and manager Alex Cora have both been ejected by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook pic.twitter.com/Oa94A0jrA4
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2025
The Sox went on to win 2-0, and hours after the game, Buehler shared a video of Lindor that had been circulating on X, quoting it by saying “I wouldn’t want me out there either. Sad thing is the BULLPEN is full of f–king animals. Tough choice.”
Before Wednesday’s series finale, Lindor was asked about his gesture and wanting Buehler out of the game.
“Getting him out of the game, it puts the team at a disadvantage,” Lindor said. “It didn’t work out for us yesterday, but it’s just part of the game. Then you throw [manager] Alex [Cora] out and now you make [bench coach] Ramon Vazquez have to make the decision of do they want to pitch [Justin] Slaten back-to-back, [Justin] Wilson back-to-back, [Aroldis] Chapman back-to-back.
“So it’s a position there where you see that it can be a good opportunity for us, we just didn’t capitalize on it… Today at breakfast [Cora and I] talked about it. It was funny.”
The altercation between the starting pitcher and the shortstop may have had some extra weight to it because of an at-bat in last season’s NLCS where Buehler struck out Lindor and was fired up before screaming expletives in Lindor’s direction.
For Lindor, that had nothing to do with it.
“It puts the team at a disadvantage and as a competitor I want all of the advantages as possible,” Lindor said. “…How everything crumbled yesterday, hopefully it can help us today.”
The shortstop also gave praise to Buehler, calling the right-hander “nasty” while also downplaying any animosity he might have towards the pitcher, saying “I ain’t got nothing against Buehler. I’m a lover. I don’t really care.”
Pitching in his first season with the Red Sox, Buehler has posted a 4.00 ERA over 36.0 innings.
The Mets will look to avoid a three-game sweep, and get their bats going, in Wednesday night’s series finale in Boston.
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