Drehoff hurls gem after Lowell ejections

A trio of pregame ejections did little to deter Lowell starter Jake Drehoff from the task at hand Thursday night.

After the Spinners manager Joe Oliver and two members of the bullpen were tossed as a result of a pregame standoff, the Red Sox left-hander remained calm and turned in one of the finer outings of his season.

Drehoff (3-4) allowed four hits while striking out eight over six shutout innings in short-season Lowell's 13-1 rout of the Aberdeen IronBirds.

"We scored five runs in the first inning, so I was on cruise control and making sure I threw strikes," the 22-year-old said. "I think I did a good job ... throwing strikes tonight and getting ahead of batters. I was getting ahead with the fastball and my changeup and cutter were both working. My put-away pitch was my curveball. Maybe a few first-pitch curveballs to keep them off balance, but with two strikes, I tried to bury the curve.

"I was mixing up my pitches and there were a lot of cutters and changeups in fastball counts. In 0-0 counts, throw that first pitch for a strike then you're 0-1 instead of 1-0."

The start of the game was delayed by around five minutes when Spinners catcher David Sopilka and pitcher Enfember Martinez were ejected by first-base umpire Ryan Wilhelms before the first pitch. Lowell manager Joe Oliver came out to speak with Wilhelms to get clarification about the ejections, but he was subsequently thrown out of the game too. As he left the field, Oliver threw a bag of balls onto the field, as well as eight bats and other dugout equipment.

It was later reported on social media that the ejections resulted from the location of equipment in the bullpen, although Wilhelms confirmed the ejections were not in regards to equipment. He declined to comment further on the situation.

None of the Aberdeen players were ejected, which according to a Lowell team official, was one of the complaints Oliver made to the field umpire. Wilhelms also tossed Brooklyn's Jhoan Urena on Monday night when the infielder refused to leave the field after the national anthem as part of a pregame standoff.

"I talked to the other coaches and they said the umpire said it was the same thing they did in Staten Island," a Lowell team official said. "It was a point of emphasis. They said Joe just asked why did our guys get thrown out and not their guys."

"I think they were doing the standoff with the other team," added Drehoff, selected in the 12th round of the 2013 Draft. "The umpire threw out two guys, and the manager went out to talk with him and I guess he thought he was trying to bump him. It was pretty ridiculous. They were just standing on the foul line after the national anthem. I'm not in the bullpen so I don't know, but I think we have done it a couple times."