New York Mets pitcher Drew Smith exited Tuesday night’s Subway Series matchup against the New York Yankees almost as quickly as he entered.
Smith was set to start his relief appearance in the seventh inning when he got checked out by an umpire to see whether there was anything suspicious on his hands.
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Major League Baseball has cracked down on sticky substances over the last year. Max Scherzer was among the pitchers this year who was ejected and later suspended for 10 games for having a sticky substance on his hand.
Sure enough, the umpires determined Smith had a sticky substance on his hands and he was ejected from the game without ever throwing a pitch. He smiled as he walked off the mound and back into the dugout.
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John Curtiss came into the game to replace him and threw to innings of one-hit ball and struck out two batters.
"They said both of my hands were too sticky," Smith said after the game. "Really surprised, because I haven’t done anything different all year. Sweat and rosin. I don’t know what else to say. Nothing changed. It’s just, I think the process is so arbitrary. It can change from one crew to the other and I think that’s the main issue."
Umpire Bill Miller explained what he saw on the mound.
"Drew Smith was ejected because he had sticky hands," he told a pool reporter. "I don’t know what’s on his hand, all I know it was sticky – sticky to the touch. It stuck to my hands when I touched it. Not only his pitching hand, but his glove hand as well."
The Yankees were leading at that point, 7-6, after Scherzer allowed six runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings pitched. Scherzer’s counterpart, Luis Severino, gave up six runs – five earned – in 4 2/3 innings of work.
The Yankees won by the same score.
Smith will likely be handed a 10-game suspension over the sticky ordeal. He had a 4.18 ERA in 26 appearances so far this season with 28 strikeouts.
