Reds' David Bell ejected after Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt 'sticky stuff' inspection

The umpiring crew at Great American Ball Park on Friday gave New York Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt two opportunities to avoid an ejection, but Cincinnati Reds Manager David Bell wasn't as lucky.

Returning to the mound for the fifth inning, Schmidt was checked for foreign substances on his glove and his hands by third-base umpire Nestor Ceja. A dark spot was found on his left wrist, which Schmidt attributed to the fuzz inside his glove mixed with sweat and rosin, and all four umpires were called to inspect Schmidt.

"(Ceja) noticed something just a little tacky," crew chief Brian O'Nora told a pool reporter afterward. "He called the whole crew down. It wasn't shiny. It wasn't dark like pine tar. It was that fuzz from the inside part of his glove, I think. As a crew we told him to go wash it off. He washed it off. Nothing was on his hand. It wasn't sticky and it wasn't a foreign substance."

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Schmidt, who pitched four scoreless innings to that point, returned to the visiting clubhouse to wash his wrist after his discussion with the umpires. Waiting for Schmidt to return, the umpiring crew met with Bell and Yankees Manager Aaron Boone.

Once Schmidt returned to the field, he was cleared by O’Nora to take the mound after a brief inspection. As Schmidt threw his warmup pitches to prepare for the inning, Bell came out of the dugout to speak with O’Nora and was ejected after a lengthy chat.

“I’m not going to talk about it," Bell said. "I think it was probably obvious what happened. I’m just going to leave it at that. We don’t benefit from me talking about this, so I’m not going to talk about it. But it was obvious what happened.”

Said O'Nora: "David was upset that we made him clean it off and not eject him. I explained the situation. He kept going. I told him it was enough and he kept going. I had no choice but to eject him."

Friday's incident came three days after Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán was ejected and subsequently suspended for 10 games because he violated “the prohibitions on foreign substances.” Germán, in a previous game against the Minnesota Twins on April 15, was given multiple opportunities to clean rosin off his right pinky and Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected when he argued Germán should not have received multiple opportunities to clean his hand.

Schmidt pitched five innings in a 6-2 win, permitting two runs on five hits and two walks. The spin rates on all his pitches, according to Statcast, were up from his season average. Only one of the other nine pitchers used in the game, Yankees reliever Albert Abreu, boasted a similar uptick in spin rates.

"Obviously, I’m using rosin," Schmidt, referring to a legal substance for pitchers, said on the Yankees' TV network. "When you’re rubbing the ball up, your hands will get dark. Sometimes you’ll have (umpires) say, ‘why is your hand darker than this?’ When you’re sitting there rubbing a ball up for five innings and you’re sweating, they are going to get darker than the normal pigment of your skin. Sometimes (umpires) will be like, ‘your hands are darker, make sure you clean them up between innings.’ Essentially that was kind of the same thing that happened. It was just on my wrist. It was kind of abnormal because of the fur on the inside of the glove. He had some concern about it, which I get, but there was no concern with the stickiness of my hands or anything like that."

MLB began enforcement of foreign substances in 2021, which includes a 10-game suspension for offenders. Germán and New York Mets starter Max Scherzer are the only two pitchers who have been suspended for foreign substance violations this season.

Reds infielder Jonathan India said Bell had "every right" to argue with the umpires.

"That’s happened to the Yankees," India said. "I think it’s the fourth time this year it’s happened, so something going on, but I thought you were supposed to be tossed if you have any substance on your hand or glove. I guess that wasn’t the case."

A memo sent to teams in March about foreign substance inspections noted "a player who possesses or applies foreign substances in violation of the playing rules is subject to immediate ejection from the game and will be suspended automatically."

O'Nora said it is the umpiring crew's discretion whether to ask a pitcher to wash his hands without an ejection.

"The league is hypersensitive about it right now," Schmidt said. "You see it across the league where (umpires) are getting a little bit more extensive on the searches, which is completely fine. I have nothing to hide."

It was the second time Bell was ejected this season.