New York Mets’ relief pitcher Jacob Rhame given two game suspension, a day after Rhys Hoskins took his slow revenge on him
New York Mets right-hander Jacob Rhame stood alone on the mound on Wednesday night as Rhys Hoskins took a slow trot around the bases. He’ll now have two games off to think about what led to that moment.
Rhame was handed a two-game suspension on Thursday, the culmination of a Mets series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field that was full of emotion on both sides. It started with Phillies’ right fielder Bryce Harper getting ejected for arguing with the umpire on Monday. The Phillies also hit two Mets hitters.
On Tuesday, with the Mets leading 9-0 in the top of the ninth inning, Rhame faced first baseman Hoskins. Seemingly in retaliation for the two hit batters the night before, Rhame twice threw fastballs that just missed Hoskins’ head.
Then, on Wednesday, Rhame and Hoskins faced each other again. Rhame threw another 95 m.p.h. fastball, but this one wasn’t aimed at Hoskins. It was right down the middle, and Hoskins connected with it on a 342-foot home run to left field. Hoskins didn’t forget what Rhame did to him earlier. He took his revenge by taking 34.23 seconds to round the bases, the slowest home run trot since Statcast tracking began in 2015. To put that in perspective, the portly Bartolo Colon took just 30.5 seconds to go around the bases after his only career home in 2016.
After Monday’s game, Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta criticized Harper for failing the team and publicly called out his teammates for not being ready to play. “He’s got to understand, we need him in right field. I don’t care how bad the umpire is,” Arrieta said. “We were flat from start to finish…It’s troubling. I’m out there doing everything I can to win a game. I need my guys behind me and they weren’t.”
If Arrieta wanted more passion out of the Phillies, Hoskins was listening. He was unapologetic about his home run trot after Wednesday’s game and said what transpired in this series is just what the team needed.
“I think a little emotion is good. With what Jake said the other night, we kind of maybe needed something like this to kind of light a fire under us,” Hoskins said. “And it seemed to do just that”
The Mets are off on Thursday, so Rhame’s suspension will begin on Friday. The 26-year-old has appeared in three games this season with an 8.10 ERA. Hoskins, meanwhile, now leads the Phillies with seven home runs. The Mets and Phillies are tied atop the NL East with identical 13-11 records.