Colorado Rockies morning after: Ryan Castellani’s first MLB win was an odd one

The Rockies got a break and the D’backs manager Torey Lovullo was not happy

In the bottom of the fifth, Castellani walked Daulton Varsho to lead off the inning. Then, Kole Calhoun grounded into a forceout, replacing Varsho at fist base.

Ketel Marte then flies out to Tapia in left field. Calhoun heads back to first base and the throw was just short of Murphy at first and therefore, botched by Murphy. Calhoun breaks for second but Wolters was backing up Murphy and gets the ball. Then, he drops it but he recovers and gets Calhoun in a faux-rundown.

I say “faux-rundown” because Wolters ran toward second base, threw the ball to Ryan McMahon covering second base but the ball hits Calhoun in the head. Calhoun leaned into the ball, though, so first base umpire Rob Drake rules Calhoun out for interference on the throw (Rule 6.01 (a) (10) states “It is interference by a batter or runner when—He fails to avoid a fielder who is attempting to field a batted ball, or intentionally interferes with a thrown ball.”)

D’Backs Torey Lovullo was very upset at the call and got ejected by Drake rather quickly for his conduct.

After the game, Lovullo told the media via Zoom that his frustration level on that play was “probably about as high as it’s been since I’ve been [the] manager here.”

"“I’ve known Rob Drake [for] a long time,” added Lovullo, “and he’s a great umpire. He’s a fantastic umpire. I want to start by saying that. [The play] was purely just a judgement call and he gave me an explanation and I respect that. I, obviously, disagreed with it and I took the conversation a bit too far. I want to leave the comments on the field. That’s between me and the players and Rob but it’s clear that it was one of those situations that I didn’t feel that Kole (Calhoun) had intent to get hit by that ball and [Drake] did. And, once again, he’s the umpire and he’s got the final say and I respect that.”"