The Pirates went from bad to worse on Saturday as they lost the second game against the Blue Jays and surrendered the series. But the worst part was that manager Don Kelly and pitching coach Bill Murphy were both ejected. The drama that unfolded in the sixth inning placed Kelly in a direct face-off against the home plate umpire, Alan Porter.

Kelly faded away inside the tunnel as the Pirates surrendered the series, but the fans are leaving no stone unturned, calling out the umpire.

“Umpire Alan Porter initially failed to recognize a Pirates challenge request. When pitching coach, Bill Murphy, complained, Porter pointed at Murphy, shouted, “Get the f— out of here”, and ejected him. The next pitch, manager Don Kelly complained about a check swing call, and Porter ejected him, too.” Umpire Auditor shared via X.

The captain itself sounds controversial. The drama all happened in the sixth inning, but initially, it was never about Kelly. Pirates’ Yohan Ramirez was at the mound, while the Jays’ Lenyn Sosa was at the plate. A 96 mph four-seam fastball off Ramirez was called a ball by Porter. The call was quickly challenged by the Pirates’ catcher, Henry Davis.

The footage shows he tapped on the right side of his helmet facing the pitcher, which was surely missed by Porter. Davis stood up and called for a review again as the Pirates’ pitching coach, Bill Murphy, was throwing some words from the dugout. Porter took no time ejecting Murphy for the same and even threw some expletives. However, he eventually allowed the ABS call.

The replay overturned the call and gave it a strike. However, the next pitch, a sweeper off Ramirez that Sosa seemed to make a check swing. This time, first base umpire Willie Traynor called it a ball again, which forced Kelly to throw himself in. Porter got involved and immediately asked Kelly to get out of the dugout.

Kelly seemed aggressively running down towards Porter, and a few expressive conversations followed. Rogers Stadium roared, but bench coach Kristopher Negron’s timely intervention prevented an untoward event.

For the unversed, this is not the first time that Kelly and Porter came face-to-face. On May 2, in a game against the Reds, the Pirates’ reliever, Chris Devenski’s sinker, went too close to the Reds’ Sal Stewart. Devenski was ejected by Porter, which made Kelly question why. Kelly was suspended for one game as a result. So, the bad blood was already there, which just burst out on Saturday.

The Blue Jays series is lost, but for the Pirates fans, they are yet to get over the controversial umpiring.

The Pirates fans are left unimpressed

Fans are wondering what made Porter not check his emotions despite being at home plate in the game. “Alan Porter has been working hard on his case for the worst umps in the league. One thing to constantly miss calls, but it’s another to constantly be incapable of keeping emotions in check. Dudes a joke,” one fan said.

Previously, we have seen players and managers losing their cool while the umpires try to calm down the situation. However, this time, even before both came face-to-face, Porter ejected Kelly and Murphy, which made the fans think that it was the umpire who escalated the issue here. “The ump unnecessarily escalated,” another added.

However, we are not sure what type of expletives were thrown at the home plate umpire from the dugout, and if any. Maybe an official statement from the umpire could clear out the confusion here.

“ABS has umpires scrambling to find new and innovative ways to be embarrassing,” one user remarked. “They’re going to have to quickly discipline umpires who ignore challenges because they don’t like the system. Or the rebellion will grow,” another added.

ABS is surely proving embarrassing for the umpires. Imagine calls getting overturned, and the entire stadium is cheering. Historically, poor ball-and-strike calls were debated but accepted as human error. Now, specific umpires face ongoing viral exposure and relentless metric-based tracking for their miscalls. Facing regular humiliation before tens of thousands of fans, some umpires have allegedly pushed back by arbitrarily denying or delaying team challenges using their umpire discretion.

“The batter tapped the right side of his helmet, facing the pitcher, and didn’t see that. Should tap the top of the helmet, making it clearly visible,” one fan suggested.

It could be a reason why Porter missed Davis’ review call. MLB could check if tapping at the top of the helmet or calling out vocally makes a difference. Till then, ABS seems to be the flashpoint between the umpires and the teams.