Brad Ausmus snaps after being angered by post-game question

Detroit Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus may know he’s a dead-man walking in terms of his job security. But that isn’t stopping his passion for the game – or being irked at being second-guessed.

Following Detroit’s 12-0 victory over Chicago that saw pitcher Matt Boyd’s no-hitter bid broken up up with a single out remaining, he was asked during his post-game interview about whether or not he considered replacing Nicholas Castellanos in right field.

White Sox SS Tim Anderson’s line drive flew over Castellanos’ head in right, spoiling what would have been the eight no-hitter in Detroit history. 

Regardless, Ausmus was angered at the suggestion of a defensive substitution to protect Boyd’s no-no.

“The guy threw a no-hitter through 8 and 2/3 and your first question is, ‘Why didn’t I defend for Nick?’ This is asinine. Stop with the negative (questions). The guy had a great day. No one catches that ball. It’s a bad question. I’m not even going to go there. Nobody catches that ball,” Ausmus said.

Castellanos recently began playing right field, but would sometimes be replaced by Andrew Romine at third when he still played the infield during a tight game.

“To win a game,” the manager explained. “We had a 12-run lead (today), I’m not defending for Nick there. It’s a dumb question, it’s a bad question. It just shows you the negativity that sometimes comes into this room after games. You immediately look to blame or point a finger at somebody because it didn’t work out the way you want it to work out.”

Another reporter stated he would have asked the question, leading Ausmus to retort, “Well, it’s a dumb question.”

“You know why it’s a bad question?” he continued. “Two reasons. One, nobody catches the ball. And two, if the ball isn’t hit there, nobody asks it. What’s pathetic is, before you guys even got here I knew that was going to be the first question, which says something about the media more than anything else. We should be celebrating a guy’s outing.”