BOSTON -- Red Sox manager John Farrell was ejected from Saturday night's game for arguing a balk call that produced a run for the Los Angeles Angels in a 6-3 win over Boston.
Third-base umpire Bill Miller, the crew chief, called a balk on Boston's Fernando Abad with Cameron Maybin on third in the seventh inning, giving the Angels a run and a 5-1 lead.
Second baseman Dustin Pedroia immediately came charging in, pointing to home plate when the balk was called. Kole Calhoun, the batter, stepped out, and home plate ump Ryan Blakney appeared to raise his hands, signaling time. Farrell came charging out.
"Time was called. Time was clearly called before the balk was called," Farrell said. "So that was the dispute."
The umpires then met for a minute or so and allowed the run. Farrell then got in a heated argument with Miller, with the two going nose to nose and spittle flying, and was tossed for his first ejection of the season.
"It started off that Abad had started and stopped before stepping off the back of the rubber," Miller said after the game. "The Red Sox argument was that time had been called by the home plate umpire before he balked. John came out and asked Ryan Blakney what he had, and Ryan told him that he had the balk before he called time.
"When he came to me and we discussed it, we got together as a crew, and Ryan told us what he had. We went back to John and told him the balk happened before time was called. John didn't accept that answer, and he was quite adamant that time had been called first, and therefore, the balk should have been nullified.
"After that, he just decided to argue and poked me in the chest. That's why he was ejected."
Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.