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Giants manager Tony Vitello argues with umpire after double play and it gets heated

Danby: Daniel Hager04/16/26DanielHagerOn3

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello was FURIOUS with home plate umpire Junior Valentine on Thursday. It came after catcher Patrick Bailey grounded into a double-play to end the top of the third inning.

Although there did not seem to be any controversy on the play, Vitello gave Valentine a mouthful. This certainly could have just been a way to vent frustration for Vitello, as the Giants had lost four consecutive games heading into Thursday’s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.

Under Vitello, the Giants are looking to steer the ship back on track following a rocky start to the season. Following their 3-0 win over Cincinnati to break the four-game losing streak, San Francisco improved to 7-12 on the season.

Vitello is now 19 games into his MLB managerial career. He became the first manager to ever jump directly from NCAA Baseball to Major League Baseball this offseason.

Tony Vitello talked decision to leave Tennessee this offseason

Vitello completely revitalized the Tennessee baseball program over the eight years he spent there. From 2018-2025, Tony V led the Volunteers to a 341-131 (125-85) record with six NCAA Tournament appearances, five Super Regional appearances, three College World Series appearances and one National Championship.

“When the (news that San Francisco Giants were going after him) first hit, it was like… any competitor kinda bows up when someone tells you one thing that it’s not true or you don’t believe in it,” Vitello said this summer during an episode of Bussin’ With The Boys. “You bow up and wanna do the other. So I got good advice from a guy who was a mentor of mine, Sean McCann‘s his name. He was like ‘dude, just take a timeout. You don’t know where that came from or why.’

“And so it was good to kind of take that night and reset and then… You know it’s like these kids I talk to on the phone regarding college decisions. When you’re getting recruited by SEC schools, you can’t really choose wrong. I mean, you’re gonna think it if you’re working at Tennessee and they choose Mississippi State or South Carolina or whatever. The only way you can make a decision right is just move forward and make it the right one. So, no going back now.”

Former associate head coach Josh Elander was promoted to head coach at Tennessee following Vitello’s departure. The Volunteers are currently 25-12 (7-8) on the season.