Astros pitching coach Brent Strom ejected two batters into game

Chandler Rome, Staff writer

June 30, 2021Updated: June 30, 2021 11:34 p.m.

Home plate umpire CB Bucknor ejects Astros pitching coach Brent Strom (right) during a mound visit with starting pitcher Luis Garcia during the first inning Wednesday at Minute Maid Park.

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

After seeing just two batters, Astros pitching coach Brent Strom was ejected for arguing balls and strikes during a mound visit in Wednesday’s 5-s loss against the Orioles.

Strom took exception to home-plate umpire CB Bucknor’s miniscule strike zone for Houston starter Luis Garcia. Garcia walked Cedric Mullins and Trey Mancini to start the game, rare for a righthander that entered averaging 2.8 walks per nine innings.

Statcast showed Bucknor blatantly missed two pitches across the two plate appearances — the first pitch to Mullins and a 2-1 offering to Mancini. Bucknor did not give Garcia any borderline pitches, either, drawing the ire of Houston’s entire dugout. 

“He had a point,” manager Dusty Baker said of his pitching coach.

Strom sauntered out for a mound visit after Mancini’s walk. Bucknor came out to break it up — as all umpires do after a determined length of time. Strom engaged the arbiter in a conversation and was ejected after only a few seconds. Strom had not been ejected from a game since 2015. It was just his second ejection since joining the Astros in 2014.

“He must have really been frustrated,” Baker said. “He lives and dies with our pitchers and their performance. He thought he was right.”

Chandler Rome joined the Houston Chronicle in 2018 to cover the Astros after spending one year in Tuscaloosa covering Alabama football – during which Nick Saban asked if he attended college. He did, at LSU, where he covered the Tigers baseball team for nearly four years. He covered most of the Astros’ 2015 playoff run, too, as an intern for MLB.com