Yankees catcall umpiring crew over missed checked-swing decision
Jo Adell #7 of the Los Angeles Angels celebrates his second inning home run against the New York Yankees on Thursday. Credit: Getty Images
Carlos Rodon didn’t hide his frustration.
Neither did the Yankees’ dugout.
Especially the dugout.
Rodon walked Jo Adell in the fourth inning of Thursday’s twice-rain-delayed 7-3 victory over the Angels, an inning notable only for what occurred during the plate appearance.
On a 1-and-2 pitch, Adell tried to check his swing and clearly did not, evidenced by the batter starting to walk back to the dugout before waiting for the call from first base umpire Bill Miller on the appeal made by catcher Austin Wells. But Miller, the crew chief and one of MLB’s senior umpires, sent his arms straight out in the safe signal, giving Adell new life and irritating, to put it mildly, Aaron Boone and the rest of the Yankees’ dugout.
Rodon, from the mound, could be seen yelling, “he was walking back!”
Though it extended Rodon’s inning, there was no damage done and Rodon retired seven straight, with Taylor Ward breaking that streak with a one-out homer in the sixth that made it 4-3.
“Um, they’re not perfect,” Boone said with a smile, asked his view of the play.
He left it at that.
Rodon, who has had a good relationship with umpires throughout his career, also didn’t make too much of it.
“It’s just one of those things,” Rodon said. “It’s out of my control. Wish I got it, but you just move on and keep going.”
Of Adell beginning to stroll back to the dugout before getting the lifeline from the umpire, Rodon smiled.
“That’s kind of what I said. But, like I said, it is what it is and you just keep going.”
Rodon (9-5, 3.10) was merely OK in his six-inning outing, allowing three runs, four hits and one walk. All three of the runs came on home runs — by Mike Trout, Adell and Taylor Ward. Both Rodon, who struck out seven, and Boone believed his secondary pitches were fairly sharp Thursday but his fastball not so much.
“Secondary wasn’t bad, I think I could have been better with fastball command,” Rodon said. “Obviously, not a super jumpy fastball, but made it work.”
Extra bases
Before Thursday’s game, Boone said Luke Weaver, on the IL since June 3 with a left hamstring strain, could be activated as soon as “tomorrow,” meaning Friday . . . On Thursday, the Yankees signed hard-throwing lefthander Jayvien Sandridge to a major league contract and added him to the active roster. Sandridge, signed to a minor-league deal in February, was hurt early in spring training and started the year on the 60-day IL with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Sandridge, who spent last year with the Padres organization and who had 1.29 ERA in six appearances with Scranton this year, exercised an assignment clause in his contract, meaning the Yankees had to promote him or risk losing him to another organization that would put him on the big-league roster. The promotion did not last long as, after Thursday’s game, Sandridge was optioned back to Triple-A. Additionally, on Thursday righthander Yerry de los Santos was placed on the IL with right elbow discomfort and Oswaldo Cabrera (broken ankle) was put on the 60-day injured list.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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