Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti had amazing call of division rival manager's ejection

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli getting ejected from Saturday's game against the San Francisco Giants for arguing balls and strikes was pure cinema – complete with a soundtrack provided by Detroit Tigers TV play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti.

Detroit fans may not have loved the fact that their beloved play-by-play announcer called a division rival's game on Saturday, but Benetti – who also calls select nationally televised games for FOX – captured the drama of the situation while also injecting some lighthearted humor in a way that only he could.

Minnesota’s Carlos Correa was at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs and a runner on base. Correa took the 2-1 pitch from Giants right-hander Logan Webb, and home plate umpire Adrian Johnson called a strike. Baldelli vehemently disagreed and began arguing with Johnson from the Twins' dugout before marching out to the field to express his displeasure with Johnson's call.

Benetti, observing the confrontation, repeated Baldelli's words, "three straight hitters," which were shouted at Johnson. But then, rather than narrate the disagreement, Benetti and color analyst Tom Verducci remained silent while an angry Baldelli hurled (very audible) expletives in Johnson's direction.

Baldelli eventually stormed off the field. But before he headed to the clubhouse, he took his hat off and, with a great flourish, threw it back on the field. That was the moment when Benetti chose to break his silence.

“That is now the second-most famous hat toss in this city to Mary Tyler Moore,” he quipped.

Tigers fans' favorite broadcaster Jason Benetti had amazing call of Twins manager Rocco Baldelli's ejection

As if the colorful language and the hat throwing weren't entertaining enough for fans watching the broadcast, Benetti's explanation as to why he remained silent during Baldelli's screaming fit was even better.

“I just was enjoying listening to it," Benetti said. "Because like, when Olivier did Hamlet, you don’t interrupt."

The inning came to an anticlimactic end when Correa swung and missed on the first pitch he saw once the game resumed. As the broadcast headed into a commercial break, Benetti acknowledged Baldelli's profanity-laced tirade one final time.

“We’re glad to have expanded your vocabulary as we go to the seventh,” he said.

Later in the game, Benetti awarded the "Allstate Good Hands Play" to Baldelli because, in the words of the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song, "he's gonna make it after all."

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