The Pittsburgh Pirates had to make a change to the bullpen during a game against the Cincinnati Reds. The umpire ejected one of their pitchers and then Major League Baseball issued a suspension.
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The moment occurred during the top of the seventh inning as the Pirates led 15-6. Pitcher Chris Devenski threw a fastball that nearly hit batter Sal Stewart in the midsection. The Reds batter moved out of the way in time, but his helmet flew off and landed on the ground.
Stewart then pointed angrily at Devenski and said something that the cameras did not pick up. He did not storm the mound as the umpire held him back. The officials then held an on-field meeting before ultimately deciding to eject Devenski from the game.
Pirates pitcher Chris Devenski was ejected after umpires determined he intentionally threw at Reds batter Sal Stewart.
Devenski appeared frustrated with Stewart's timeout call before the pitch pic.twitter.com/xIICaz6cJy
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 3, 2026
The California native ended the game with one allowed hit, which happened to be a home run.
The situation did not end with the ejection. MLB suspended two members of the team. The league suspended Devenski for three games for intentionally trying to hit Stewart. The league also issued an undisclosed fine.
Additionally, MLB suspended manager Don Kelly for one game. He missed the start of a road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The league also fined Kelly an undisclosed amount.
"I really don't know what happened," Stewart told media members after the loss to the Pirates. He said that he had called timeout after seeing there were 17 seconds on the clock This timeout call happened immediately before Devenski threw a fastball at him.
"No one wants to get hurt," Stewart added. "Literally, I have no clue. No one said anything. The umpires did...it was pretty blatantly obvious, so I'm glad the umpires took care of it."
With Devenski out of the lineup for the end of the Reds-Pirates series, two other members of the bullpen stepped up.
Pitcher Braxton Ashcraft got the start on Monday. He played just over seven innings of the 1-0 win. He allowed four hits with a pair of walks. He struck out six batters. Gregory Soto then came in as the reliever. He had two strikeouts as the Pirates clinched the series.
