Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro was ejected in the first inning of Saturday’s 13-4 loss to the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
After the top half of the inning, Quatraro walked out to have a discussion with second-base umpire Nestor Ceja. The conversation didn’t last long, but Quatraro was ejected as he started to head back toward the dugout.
“I actually wasn’t arguing,” Quatraro said. “I was just trying to get some clarification. We’ve been told that if the pitcher is on the rubber, he’s about to start. And then he goes to touch the PitchCom, it should be a balk because it’s essentially starting, stopping twice.”
Quatraro took issue with the non-balk call.
He initially thought Yankees starter Will Warren could’ve balked with Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia on second base.
Garcia began the inning with a leadoff double. Warren attempted two pickoff plays to second; Garcia got safely back to the bag each time.
“They said it wasn’t a balk,” Quatraro said. “It was like, their interpretation of it was not that it was a balk.”
The Royals wouldn’t score in the frame. Garcia was left stranded as Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone were retired in order.
Quatraro maintained he wasn’t upset by the whole ordeal, but Ceja gave him a quick hook as the Royals were coming onto the field for defense.
“It’s just a difference in how different crews interpret it and how they call it,” Quatraro said.
Garcia didn’t see a potential balk. However, he did see Warren attempt to touch his PitchCom during the pitching sequence.
“Yeah, (Starling) Marte told me that he did balk,” Garcia said. “But I didn’t see. The only thing I see was he was trying to touch the pitch on PitchCom. So that’s the only thing that I see.”
Quatraro was ejected for the eighth time in his career.
This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 4:07 PM.
Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.
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