Tony Vitello earns first ejection with San Francisco Giants for fiery response to ump
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Tony Vitello is having his baptism by fire right now in the major leagues, as a first-year manager for the San Francisco Giants.
It’s a whole new world in a whole different part of the country for the former Tennessee head baseball coach, and on Sunday during a home game against the New York Mets, Vitello got to experience something in the big leagues for the very first time.
He got to experience the frustration and intensity of being thrown out of a Major League Baseball game.
It happened during the bottom of the 7th inning, with his Giants leading the Mets, 2-1. There was 1 out, nobody on base, and the first pitch was coming from New York right-hander Huascar Brazoban. The pitch was chopped meekly by San Francisco’s Jerar Encarnacion to the third-base side of the pitcher’s mound. Brazoban fielded the ball and fired to first base, with his throw getting away from the first baseman despite it being somewhat on target and the Giants TV announcers thinking that Encarnacion had reached base safely on an error.
Not so fast.
The umpires ruled that Encarnacion had left the runner’s lane on his sprint to first base and because of that they ruled him out.
Here is the video of the controversial call that fired up Vitello and ultimately led to a big argument and his first ejection as Giants manager:
Vitello, who coached Tennessee from 2018-25 and led the Vols to a national championship in 2024, was sent to the showers early on Sunday. Making matters worse, the Giants’ 2-1 lead evaporated during a 4-run 8th inning by the Mets, who won the game 5-2.
So, it was a forgettable afternoon all around in San Francisco for Vitello, with the loss piled onto the ejection. But it didn’t take long for Vitello to get his first MLB ejection out of the way, in the 10th game of his first season as Giants manager.
Vitello isn’t at Tennessee anymore, but this season’s Volunteers are trying to do what Vitello did in Knoxville, which was lead the program to glory at the College World Series. Here is what the Kalshi market currently says about Tennessee and other top teams in the mix to prevail in Omaha in June:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
