Rays manager Joe Maddon ejected from game

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Yankees captain Derek Jeter(notes) acted his way to first base.
Jeter was awarded the base in the seventh inning of football jerseys
Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay when plate umpire Lance Barksdale ruled he was hit on the left arm by reliever Chad Qualls’(notes) pitch.
Turns out Jeter bluffed his way on base, admitting after the game that the pitch actually hit his bat.
“He told me to go to first base. I’m not going to tell him I’m not going to first, you know,” Jeter said.
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon was ejected after arguing that call was incorrect.
“If our guys did it, I would have applauded that, too,” Maddon said. “For me it was a ground ball back to the pitcher.”
Maddon argued with Barksdale before leaving the plate area and continuing his discussion with second base umpire and crew chief Tom Hallion behind the mound.
Maddon later headed back and argued again with Barksdale, who threw the manager out of the game.
Jeter shook his arm following the pitch, prompting an on-field exam by trainer Gene Monahan.
“I think Geno acted more than I did, I guess,” Jeter said. “It’s part of the game. My job is to get on base.”
The next batter, Curtis Granderson(notes), hit a two-run homer that put the Yankees ahead 3-2.
NEW YORK (AP)—Jenrry Mejia(notes) of the New York Mets left his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Indianapolis Colts jersey
third inning Wednesday night after straining a muscle in the back of his shoulder.
With one out, Mejia walked pitcher Paul Maholm(notes), then threw two balls to leadoff hitter Andrew McCutchen(notes) before catcher Henry Blanco(notes) went out to the mound. The right-hander was replaced by Raul Valdes(notes).
The Mets said Mejia went for an MRI to evaluate what they called an acute strain.
The 20-year-old Mejia, who made 30 relief appearances early in the season for New York, was making his third major league start. He gave up 10 runs over nine innings in his two previous starts, both losses.
Valdes allowed a sacrifice fly by Jose Tabata(notes), but the run was unearned. Mejia didn’t give up a hit and walked two in 2 1-3 innings. He struck out one and threw a wild pitch.
CINCINNATI (AP)—The Cincinnati Reds’ game against Arizona on Wednesday was briefly delayed in the top of the third inning when a young man and woman draped a sign over the center field fence protesting Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law.
The white banner, which almost reached all the way down to the warning track, contained in black letters the message “Not in Arizona, Not in Ohio” with the words SB 1070 circled and a diagonal line through them—the international symbol for prohibition.
That is the number for the bill passed by the Arizona legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Jan Brewer in April.
An usher told the couple to remove the sign and then carried it away. The couple left a few minutes later.
BALTIMORE (AP)—Jose Bautista(notes) hit his major league-leading 47th home run Wednesday night, tying the Toronto Blue Jays club record set in 1987 by George Bell.
Bautista sent an 0-1 pitch from Baltimore’s Brad Bergesen(notes) over the center-field wall in the first inning. The drive landed in the bullpen and gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.
It was his seventh of the season off the Minnesota Vikings jersey
Orioles, the most against any team. It was his second off Bergesen.
Bautista began the year with 59 career homers.
Toronto has hit at least one home run in 17 consecutive games, the longest run in the AL this year and one short of the streak of 18 straight by Cincinnati from May 11-29.