Why was Mariners' J.P. Crawford ejected vs Nationals? Full breakdown of Andy Fletcher's controversial call

Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford was sent off in the 6th inning of Thursday night's game against the Washington Nationals. The Gold Glover argued a call thrown by Nats' ace MacKenzie Gore that was thrown way out of the zone — to which umpire Andy Fletcher called a strike, leading to the punch out.

After being struck out looking, Crawford went livid on the MLB official as Fletcher signaled his tossing from the game. The team's coaching staff then rushed to the field and tried to make a separation between the two. The shortstop finished the game by going 0-for-3 with a sole strikeout to his name — the one that got him ejected.

Expand Tweet

"JP Crawford was ejected from the game after this strike three call" - @ MLB on FOX

The visiting Nationals eventually got the victory, 9-3, trampling over the postseason-contending Mariners. Crawford's meltdown wasn't unwarranted either, as proven by a baseball page analysis in X that analyzes the calls made by officials.

Expand Tweet

In the scorecard, umpire Andy Fletcher missed a total of 15 calls in the game for a total accuracy of 90%, way lower than the expected accuracy for officials at 94%. The missed calls went both ways as the Nationals and Mariners both gained and suffered from Fletcher's inconsistent strike zone.

To further solidify the inconsistencies, Fletcher missed eight calls within one inch from the edge of the supposed zone. This resulted into multiple walks and strikeouts.

Mariners obliterated by Nationals in extras

In a surprising result, the Mariners got romped by the Nationals in the 10th inning of Thursday night's game with a score of 9-3, as the latter took the series on the road. After getting shutout 9-0 on Tuesday, questions will be asked regarding the capabilities of Seattle's players and staff who are gunning for a postseason spot as they were defeated by a rebuilding squad.

Expand Tweet

In spite of the inconsistencies in the calls made in the contest, Nationals ace MacKenzie Gore gave up no runs in a six-inning outing. Gore gave up just four hits and struck out eight as he lowered his ERA to 3.16.

The pitcher's performance was supplemented by the Nationals' batting crew that opened a seven-spot in the 10th inning. Daylen Lile, Nathaniel Lowe, Luis Garcia Jr., and Josh Bell, pelted Mariners reliever Collin Snider in extras to put the game away for the visitors. With the win, the Nationals improved their record to 26-30 while Seattle fell to 30-25.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

Know More

Edited by Daniel Santiago