Perhaps New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was trying to fire up his team that has lost six of its past eight games. Maybe he was showing frustration over alternating pitching and hitting struggles as the Yankees slide further down the AL East standings.
Whatever the reason, Boone gave himself an early exit from Sunday’s matchup with the Houston Astros by getting ejected in the third inning. It was his fifth ejection of the season, leading all MLB managers.
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Boone began arguing with home plate umpire Derek Thomas after he called a low sinker to Ryan McMahon a strike. Judging from strike-zone graphics, the pitch was borderline but was out of the zone.
Apparently, that was one low strike too many for Boone’s liking and he shouted at Thomas from the dugout. Thomas called timeout and warned Boone, saying “That’s enough” before tossing him from the game.
That prompted Boone to come out of the dugout to confront Thomas, saying “You f***in’ need to fix it.”
At that point, the Yankees were down 2-0 on a first-inning home run by Jose Altuve, his 21st of the season, and an RBI double from Christian Walker in the third. Even worse, the Yankees hadn’t gotten a hit off Astros starter Jason Alexander (cue your George Costanza “Seinfeld” jokes).
Alexander, making his fifth start of the season, didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning when he gave up a single to Ben Rice on a 92 mph sinker in the outer middle of the strike zone. The Yankees finally broke through with a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by McMahon, scoring Jazz Chisholm Jr., but still trailed 4-1.
One highlight for the Yankees may have been Devin Williams allowing no hits or runs in the fifth inning with three strikeouts. It was the first time in his past six outings that the embattled closer didn’t allow a run.
Boone had already been ejected, so perhaps it wasn’t his decision to use Williams in a low-leverage situation. But using Williams under such circumstances was important for him to regain some confidence amid a terrible season, most recently typified by serving up a two-run homer to Taylor Trammell in Friday’s loss to the Astros.
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