Dodgers fans have another reason to dislike Ben Verlander after latest Twitter rant

After giving up a solo homer to Andrew McCutchen to put the Pirates up 2-0 in the bottom of the second on Wednesday, Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan got two outs before getting himself into trouble again. He gave up two consecutive singles, first to Joey Bart and then to Cam Devanney, the rookie's first career hit.

The Pirates were motioning for the ball, which was returned to Sheehan, while the pitcher also received a fresh one from the umpire. Sheehan, unaware, switched out the balls in his glove and tossed the new one to the ball boy, keeping Devanney's first hit ball.

It made a few initial waves on Pirates Twitter, but was subsequently blown up by Dodgers' fans (maybe all of baseball's fans) least favorite analyst — Justin Verlander's brother Ben.

In an obvious moment of engagement farming that wasn't even his original observation, Verlander posted the video accusing Sheehan of "intentionally" keeping the ball, as if Sheehan was feeling entirely too soft after giving up a base hit to an unranked Pirates prospect and kept the ball out of spite.

Ben Verlander stirs up needless drama after Emmet Sheehan, Cam Devanney moment in Dodgers-Pirates

Ever-reliable Dodgers sideline reporter Kirsten Watson quote-tweeted Verlander's inflammatory post to set the record straight: "Emmet Sheehan said it was not intentional, he didn’t realize that the ball was being called for and shared he would personally apologize to Cam Devanney for the misunderstanding."

That should've been the end of it, but Verlander continued to insist that Sheehan had "admitted to it" (not just one but six times), and that the pitcher only "claimed" it was unintentional. It would be too much to insist that Verlander just admit that he was ragebaiting (to two fanbases who don't care about each other at all), but to be so woefully obtuse is a new level of ridiculous and exasperating for a guy Dodgers fans don't care much for in the first place.

Dodgers fans can forgive Verlander the Shohei Ohtani hero worship that gets him constantly meme'd and was the infamous subject of a now-deleted, NSFW Jeff Passan tweet, but to try to start a war around a moment involving two players who casual baseball fans have definitely never heard of is both hilarious and deeply annoying.

At least it was so blown out of proportion that the actual final score (3-0 Pirates) and the fact that the Dodgers just lost a series to one of the worst teams in baseball (again) kind of got lost in the weeds. We doubt it was an intentional redirect, but if it was...thanks to Ben Verlander for that, we guess.