Tigers fans laughing at Rocco Baldelli's NSFW ejection as Twins lose on close call

The Tigers' series opener against the Twins on August 14 was a down-to-the-wire affair, with Detroit staging a comeback from an early 3-0 deficit at the expense of Tarik Skubal. The game went into extra innings tied at three apiece, and AJ Hinch made the questionable decision to entrust Rafael Montero to wrap things up with a narrow 4-3 lead after a sac fly for Gleyber Torres in the bottom of the 10th.

Montero had closed the bottom of the 10th without issue, and he even won a battle against the Twins' best hitter in Byron Buxton. With the ghost runner on second, Montero got his first batter to an 0-2 count. Ryan Jeffers fouled one off, and then another into the glove of Dillon Dingler... maybe?

Home plate umpire John Bacon called it a foul tip and rang Jeffers up, but he was quick to dispute the call, insisting that the ball hit the ground before Dingler snagged it. It wasn't a reviewable call, and the Twins were down to their last two outs, so Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli clearly saw he had nothing to lose.

He approached Bacon, already ranting and raving, and he stayed out even after he got tossed. He leveled some choice obscenities at Bacon, kicked dirt over home plate, and flung his hat onto the field before finally taking his leave.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli put on an expletive-filled show during Tigers opener

Montero climbed up the trust tree when he took the last two batters down without issue, and he was credited with his first win as a Tiger despite a seven-inning night for Skubal.

Baldelli's rant and ejection might be an all-timer. It had everything you'd want to see (and hear, courtesy of the hot mics), and Twins fans' audible approval was pretty indicative of the dire straits the club finds itself in right now. They're a below-.500 team that sold nearly half of their roster at the trade deadline, and just this week, their unpopular owners decided that they actually weren't going to sell the team after months of serious discussions.

Let's just hope that the ejection won't fire the Twins up too much through the rest of this series. If the Tigers can walk away with a win or even a sweep, they'll hopefully extend their division lead over the Guardians by another game or two. But hats off to Baldelli for his incredible performance.