Joe West, the major leagues’ senior umpire, has been suspended for three days without pay for comments he made about Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre.

West was to have worked the Dodgers-Diamondbacks series in Phoenix, but the World Umpires Association said Tuesday that he was serving the first game of the suspension.

“Joking interactions between umpires and players are a routine part of the games,” the union said in a statement. “We disagree strongly with the decision to punish Joe West simply for sharing a humorous exchange with a player.”

MLB did not immediately comment.

In a USA Today report published June 20 and timed to coincide with his 5,000th regular-season game, West said, “It’s got to be Adrian Beltre,” when asked who was the biggest complainer in the major leagues.

“Every pitch you call that’s a strike, he says, ‘Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!’?” West was quoted as saying in the report. “I had a game with him recently and the pitch was right down the middle. He tells me, ‘That ball is outside.’

“I told him, ‘You may be a great ballplayer, but you’re the worst umpire in the league. You stink.’?”

Beltre was not in favor of the suspension.

“I know that he was kidding,” Beltre said after the Rangers’ 5-4 loss to the Mets. “I play around with him, he plays around with me and that was it. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I’m sad that it happened.”

Said Rangers manager Jeff Banister: “There’s no part of me that ever would think any person, especially Joe West, would be partial to anything.”

West, 64, made his big-league debut in September 1976.