During the Yankees’ 5-1 loss to the White Sox Monday night, manager Aaron Boone did a lot more work at the plate than his hitters did. He was ejected in the top of the eighth inning after Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe struck out looking and then Boone got run.
Funnily enough, this call was correct. Take a look:
From the view in the first-base dugout, Boone likely saw the catcher Yasmani Grandal have to extend himself to catch the pitch, as it missed the spot where he was set up. Still, it was a strike by the letter of the law. Plus, Boone’s problem wasn’t necessarily just that pitch, as he’d been chirping at Diaz for much of the night, and there were some big misses on that side of the plate.
Now, onto the fun.
The man that brought us the “savages in the box” tirade added another one to his greatest hits list. It was a run-of-the-mill ejection rant for a bit — though it should be noted that home-plate umpire Laz Diaz was yelling back more than most do these days, perhaps knowing he was absolutely right on the call — but go to about the 23-second mark. Boone first drew a line far outside where the actual pitch was and then, hilariously, imitated an umpire punching out a hitter on a called strike three.
Unlike Volpe, at least Boone went down swinging. Give him that.
The Yankees were gifted seven walks in 5 1/3 innings from White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Eventually, the Yankees would collect six hits but only scored one run on a sac fly in the seventh inning.
Due to this loss and the Red Sox getting the benefit of a call before a walk-off grand slam, the Yankees now fall back to last place in the AL East. They are 58-55 on the season, 5 1/2 games out of the third and final AL Wild Card.
