VIDEO: Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte Breaks Down in Tears After Fan Makes Derogatory Comments About His Late Mother

Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte received consolation from his teammates Tuesday night after a fan heckled him by making derogatory comments about his late mother.

During Marte’s appearance at the top of the seventh inning of Arizona’s game against the White Sox at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field, a fan made hateful comments about Marte’s mother.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and bench coach Jeff Banister demanded that the fan be ejected from the game, and security at Rate Field followed through on that request.

Despite the fan’s removal, Marte remained clearly distraught during a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh inning. Still, fans and commenters online had no idea why Marte was upset.  It was eventually learned that the fan had heckled Marte about his late mother, who died in a car accident in 2017.

“I just reacted as a dad would when I went out to change pitchers,” D’Backs manager Tony Lovullo told reporters after the game. “I could see he was sobbing. It hurt.

“(I told him), ‘I love you and I’m with you and we’re all together and you’re not alone. No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you heard, that guy is an idiot. It shouldn’t have an impact on you.”

Fellow Diamondback Geraldo Perdomo echoed his manager’s concerns and backed up his teammate.

“Everybody knows Ketel has fun, plays the game hard, but I feel bad for him,” Perdomo said, via MLB.com. “I feel mad about it. I don’t know who it was, but they’ve definitely got to do something. We cannot continue to do that sh*t here in MLB. This is baseball, this is for the fans. They came here, they support us, but when they cross the line, we are not with that sh*t.”

Marte is an All-Star second baseman for Arizona who is enjoying another stellar season, hitting .316 with 14 home runs and 31 RBIs.