Buehler tossed 3 innings into return; Cora, too

BOSTON — Red Sox right-hander Walker Buehler, activated earlier in the day from the 15-day injured list, was ejected from his Tuesday start against the New York Mets in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes.

After two balls to open an at-bat by Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor stole second safely. Following Lindor’s slide, Buehler approached plate umpire Mike Estabrook, while yelling and pointing his finger. Buehler was quickly ejected, and moments later, Boston manager Alex Cora also was tossed.

It was the second consecutive game that the Red Sox played without Cora. On Monday, he missed the series opener to attend his daughter’s graduation at Boston College. Cora was replaced both nights by bench coach Ramon Vazquez.

Cora shouted in Estabrook’s face for a while, and first-base umpire Laz Diaz eventually stepped in to keep the two apart. Cora made contact with Diaz while continuing to verbally let loose on Estabrook. The manager then finally made his way to the clubhouse to cheers from Boston fans.

“It was weird; they were going back and forth,” Cora said of the exchange between Buehler and Estabrook. “I don’t know what the exchange was, but I’ve been at this for a few years, and I was just begging, ‘Just give me a break. I’ll go out and you can throw me out, and we can keep the pitcher in the game.’ But I guess he had enough. I don’t know why.”

Brennan Bernardino replaced Buehler and inherited the count on Soto. Bernardino proceeded to walk Soto on four pitches in a scoreless game. But the bullpen held up the rest of the way, and Vazquez steered the Red Sox to a 2-0 victory.

“Everybody saw what happened. That’s baseball; we just had to stick to the plan,” Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez said on the postgame show on NESN.

Buehler had not pitched for the Red Sox since April 26 because of right shoulder issues. He was scratched from his next start, and ensuing tests revealed he had bursitis in the shoulder.

Buehler, 30, pitched a three-inning simulated game Thursday and indicated he fared well and was ready to return.

Although this outing was short, Buehler has now started seven games during his first season with the Red Sox. He entered Tuesday’s game at 4-1 with a 4.28 ERA and 29 strikeouts against nine walks in 33⅔ innings.

“The pitch was in the strike zone,” Narvaez said of the ball call that ignited Buehler’s situation in the third. “He was fighting with the guy behind the plate. He was saying, ‘Hey, that was in the middle.’ And the guy was saying, ‘No.’ And it was back and forth. Buehler is an emotional guy, he’s a competitor. It was just the emotions of the game.”

Boston optioned right-hander Nick Burdi to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding move. The 32-year-old made two appearances and pitched 2⅓ scoreless innings for Boston.

A member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization until signing with Boston as a free agent in December, Buehler has undergone two Tommy John surgeries during his career, and the latter one in 2022 caused him to sit out the 2023 season and make his 2024 debut that May.

Buehler last made it through a full season without issue in 2021, when he registered a career-high 33 starts to lead the major leagues that season. He went 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 2021 and was selected to the All-Star Game for a second time. The Dodgers selected Buehler with the 24th pick of the 2015 MLB draft.

Information from Field Level Media and the Associated Press was used in this report.