Wegner & Crew Warn Rockies & Red Sox in Sticky Situation

After Rockies pitcher Cal Quantrill and Red Sox batter Reese McGuire exchanged words, leading to a benches-clearing incident in Colorado, Chief Mark Wegner's crew met to discuss remedies, ultimately opting for warnings to both teams, issued by HP Umpire Jeremie Rehak. The game proceeded without further incident as Colorado defeated Boston, 20-7.

Although Quantrill appeared to instigate the situation, and ordinarily might have merited ejection, it would appear the crew either did not observe the misconduct or deemed it unworthy of expulsion. Instead, the crew opted to clean up the mess by warning both teams.

Official Baseball Rule 6.02(c)(9) states, "If, in the umpire’s judgment, circumstances warrant, both teams may be officially 'warned' prior to the game or at any time during the game," and this crew in the absence of observing an ejectable instigation offense, found that benches clearing constituted a circumstance to warrant warnings.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Umpires work through sticky situation with warnings after explosive bench-clearing