Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte broke down in tears during his team’s Tuesday night game against the White Sox after a fan taunted him over his late mother, who died in a 2017 car crash in the Dominican Republic.
The incident took place at Chicago’s Rate Field during Marte’s seventh-inning plate appearance. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and bench coach Jeff Banister asked the offending fan to be ejected and a White Sox spokesperson told the Arizona Republic that the request was honored.
As for Marte, he was still clearly emotional over the verbal attack during a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh:
“I just reacted as a dad would when I went out to change pitchers,” Lovullo said after the game. “I could see he was sobbing. It hurt.
“(I told him), ‘I love you and I’m with you and we’re all together and you’re not alone. No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you heard, that guy is an idiot. It shouldn’t have an impact on you.'”
Marte’s teammate and double-play partner Geraldo Perdomo also came to his defense, saying the fan “should be banned, for sure.”
“Everybody knows Ketel has fun, plays the game hard, but I feel bad for him,” Perdomo said, via MLB.com. “I feel mad about it. I don’t know who it was, but they’ve definitely got to do something. We cannot continue to do that s–t here in MLB. This is baseball, this is for the fans. They came here, they support us, but when they cross the line, we are not with that s–t.”
Marte, who’s enjoying yet another standout season, homered earlier in the game, which the Diamondbacks won 4-1.
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