NEW YORK (AP) — Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss said plate umpire Dan Merzel made a “terrible call” when he charged Chris Sale with a balk for not declaring he was going to pitch out of the wind-up with a runner on third base in the fifth inning in Saturday’s game against the New York Yankees.
Sale allowed a tying RBI triple to rookie Spencer Jones and then, as he began to throw the first pitch to Austin Wells, was called for his third career balk for having a slight hitch in right leg.
“Sale declared the hitter before that he was going out of the windup,” Weiss said after Atlanta’s 5-4 loss. “He said he did not declare after that. He’s never done that in his career so it’s a terrible call. I always try to show the umpires respect, and they know that, but you can’t make that call right there.”
Sale was incredulous as approached Merzel to contest the call before Weiss rushed out of the dugout to continue the argument and prevent the left-hander from getting tossed. Weiss took his cap off and fiercely argued with Merzel before he was thrown out.
“Chris Sale failed to declare that he was going to pitch out of the wind up for the second batter and he’s required by rule to make that declaration as a hybrid pitcher,” crew chief Dan Bellino told a pool reporter.
Bellino said pitchers who throw from the traditional wind up are not required to make that declaration.
“Hybrid pitchers are held to a different standard because you can’t tell what they are based on their foot placement at the start,” Bellino said. “It needs to be very clear. It’s not something that we can assume."
After the balk, Sale allowed a double to Wells and walked Paul Goldschmidt before getting out of the inning. He allowed three runs and five hits in six innings for his first loss since June 28.
“I’m just going to leave it to them (Merzel and Weiss),” Sale said.
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Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss argues with home plate umpire Dan Merzel and gets ejected during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Actor Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, and had been in rehab just weeks before, according to a coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press.
Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home.
A combination of fentanyl and its chemical byproduct, as well as the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, a muscle relaxer and a drug used to treat major depression and other serious mental health disorders, was found in Panettiere’s system, according to a statement from the Greenville County Coroner’s Office.
A more detailed report released to the AP said a senior deputy coroner who came to the Airbnb apartment to investigate Panettiere’s death found blue pressed pills and a straw on a table that would later test positive for fentanyl. A white powdery substance was found in her suitcase in a sunglasses case, according to the report.
When the investigator called Panettiere's father, he said she planned to spend her birthday five days later in Greenville, then head to Ukraine to visit her daughter.
The investigator talked to two men in the apartment with Panettiere. Both names were blocked out, but police have said her boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were with her.
One of the men said he saw Panettiere putting on makeup at 10:30 a.m. the day she died.
He went back to sleep and woke up to a knock at the door. Both men found Panettiere face down in a sitting position on a sofa bed with her legs crossed. He said that wasn't unusual, but he couldn't wake her and noticed she was deep purple. He administered two doses of Narcan and then called 911 when she didn't respond, according to the report.
The investigator wrote in her report that the man told her he didn't know if Panettiere used any illegal drugs in the past two days, but “she was very good at hiding them.”
Asked for comment on the coroner's initial report, Kasey Kitchen, a publicist for the family, told The Associated Press that “the investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex.”
Greenville Police confirmed Tuesday that their investigation into Panettiere's death is continuing.
Paramedics responded to Panettiere's apartment last month after a 911 call and performed CPR and other advanced resuscitation efforts for more than 40 minutes before she was declared dead. The autopsy found no signs of trauma that could have contributed to her death, Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis said in a statement.
Panettiere soared to fame in the TV shows “Heroes” and “Nashville.” In her memoir “This Is Me,” released in May, Panettiere described lifelong scars from her early fame and acknowledged being addicted to alcohol and enduring postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.
She also endured family struggles and tragedy. Her parents’ marriage was strained and eventually ended. Her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who was also an actor, died of a heart condition in 2023, at age 28.
Panettiere also talked about her long relationship with Hickerson and allegations that the aspiring actor physically abused her.
He was charged in 2020 with multiple counts of felony abuse, and he pleaded no contest to two counts of injuring a spouse or partner and served a short time in jail due to the case. He was sentenced to four years of probation and anger management and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Hickerson completed the terms and recently asked a judge to reduce his conviction to misdemeanors; that request was denied.
In 2015, Panettiere said she was in a horrible cycle of using alcohol and drugs to battle depression and anxiety and had to find a way out of the darkness. She had also entered rehab while filming the show “Nashville.”
“I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center. I was drowning,” she said in a 2023 interview with Women’s Health magazine.
As a child, Panettiere acted in commercials and soap operas, including as the ever-troubled Lizzie Spaulding on “Guiding Light.” In “This Is Me,” she wrote that the traumas her character endured, from being kidnapped to killing her mother’s boyfriend, led her to associate “catastrophe with adoration.”
The Greenville County Coroner's Office is seen in this photo on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
FILE - Hayden Panettiere arrives at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 20, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
FIle - Hayden Panettiere arrives at the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood Party in Los Angeles on Sept. 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
