Friday’s series opener between the Yankees and the Red Sox was a heated one — and not just because of the action on the field.
After Aaron Judge tied the game at 1-1 with his solo shot off of Garrett Crochet in the ninth, the Red Sox would pull out the victory in the 10th inning, thanks in part to some questionable umpire calls in the Yankees’ half of the inning.
With Anthony Volpe on second as the ghost runner, the shortstop took off for third but was initially called safe. Boston challenged and it was overturned, eliminating the potential threat.
With two outs, DJ LeMahieu lined the ball over the first baseman’s head that looked to clip the first base foul line — first base umpire Jeremie Rehak called it foul, which LeMahieu could not believe.
Yankees skipper Aaron Boone challenged, and after a lengthy wait the call on the field stood.
That drew Boone’s ire as he was ejected for arguing.
“It looked like Anthony on the slide, the ground caught his arm, so he couldn’t extend like he normally would’ve otherwise, he’s safe easily,” Boone said of the 10th inning after the game. “And then fair ball down the line, and [they] don’t have the courage to overturn. That’s it.”
“It looked to me the ball didn’t go foul until after it bounced,” LeMahieu said. “They reviewed it, but obviously frustrating. We’re fighting for baserunners right there.”
LeMahieu would ground out and make a comment to Rehak as he got to first base. Rehak would eject LeMahieu, the first time the veteran infielder has been ejected in his career.
When asked what he told Rehak to get him ejected, LeMahieu said he didn’t curse or anything, and that he’s definitely said worse things to umpires in the past without being ejected.
“I just said that was a brutal call. He was like, ‘What did you say?’ I said that was brutal. And that was it,” he said.
“I want the courage to overturn the call,” Boone later added. “A quarter of the ball is on the line. It takes a lot of something…a lot of imagination to say that’s fair. Whatever, it’s over with. Not saying we score there. In the end, they outlasted us tonight.”
Boone said he already spoke to Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, before the media arrived at his office in the visitors’ clubhouse about the 10th inning, but kept the contents of the conversation to himself.
He also walked back his “courage” comment, saying he’s still heated, but Boone is right, though. While the calls in the 10th did not go the Yankees’ way, the Red Sox simply outlasted them, and it started with their ace.
Crochet shut down the Yankees for 8.1 innings before Judge’s home run gave New York life, but in the end it wasn’t enough as the Yankees dropped their record in extra innings to 1-4 (0-4 on the road). In those four road extra-inning games, the Yankees have played six innings in extras this season and have yet to score with the automatic runner.
The Volpe caught stealing eliminated that chance on Friday and Boone defends the decision, citing, again, how the ground did not allow his shortstop to extend further than usual. But the longtime Yankees skipper complimented his players for fighting back on a day where they weren’t at their best.
“On a night we get in at four in the morning, they’re coming off an off day. We’re short down there. The compete from our guys tonight I thought was awesome,” Boone said. “It was an awesome game to be in. The Red Sox played well. Obviously, Crochet was great. We did enough to hang around and almost pulled it off. Really loved the way the guys competed on a tough day.”
The Yankees are now 1-3 against the Red Sox this season, but look to get back in the win column on Saturday at Fenway Park.
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