Arizona Diamondbacks Star Ketel Marte Breaks Down on the Field After Heckler Yelled About His Late Mother

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Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte was reduced to tears during Tuesday’s game after a fan said something about his late mother.

In the bottom of the seventh inning in Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox, the broadcast cut to a clip of Marte from moments earlier. During a pitching change, Marte was crying while Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo had his arm around him. Teammate Geraldo Perdomo was also there to console Marte.

Even after that moment, Marte continued to wipe away tears throughout the rest of the inning.

As noted in the tweet above, it was initially believed that Marte was upset about a teammate going down with a gruesome injury. After the game, it was revealed the emotional moment was caused by a fan saying something about Marte’s mother. She died in a car crash in 2017.

“It was a terrible moment,” Lovullo said to the media. “Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes. And I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them.”

According to additional reporting by Arizona Republic, Lovullo also confirmed he heard the comments himself:

Lovullo said he heard what the fan said – he did not want to repeat it – and looked directly at Marte.

“I looked right at him when I heard,” Lovullo said. “I looked right at him and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure.”

The fan, a team spokesperson told Arizona Republic, was ejected from the game. An incensed Perdomo called for a permanent ban.

At the time of writing, Marte had not commented on the situation.