Yankees steamed by home plate umpire in loss to Rays
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) loses his temper as he complains about calls with home umpire Chad Whitson (62) during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Thursday, June 3, 2021, at Yankee Stadium in New York. Boone was thrown out of the game. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) Credit: AP/Kathy Willens
Gerrit Cole didn’t allow a run in the first three innings to the Rays on Thursday afternoon. Still, something didn’t seem quite right with the righthander.
Cole hung a slider to Randy Arozarena with two outs in the third and then hung his head as he walked off the mound, even though Arozarena had only hit a harmless fly ball to medium centerfield.
Cole must have known something was up. He allowed five runs over the next two innings and the Rays went on to thrash the Yankees, 9-2, to earn a split of the four-game series before 12,614 at Yankee Stadium.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected by plate umpire Chad Whitson while executing a pitching change as the game got out of hand during Tampa Bay’s four-run seventh. Boone was livid over what he believes was an absurdly generous strike zone for Tampa Bay starter Ryan Yarbrough and a restrictive one for Cole.
"I saw it," Boone said. "It definitely didn’t go our way today, but that’s all part of it. We still had some chances there and didn’t get it done."
Boone was more forceful with his opinions when he screamed at Whitson, pointed in the umpire’s face, and walked around the infield to take the argument to the base umpires.
"I just had some disagreements throughout the day with him," Boone said, "and got run, obviously, when I went out to the mound. Probably said some things that [you] can’t get away with."
Was it the strike zone that had Cole shaking his head?
"Tough question to answer," he said, before allowing that there were some "questionable calls . . . As players, we just try to control what we can control and, however frustrating it may be, just try not to let it affect you. I was just trying to do my best at that today."
DJ LeMahieu, after getting called out on strikes in the eighth with the Yankees down seven runs, smashed his helmet against the bat rack multiple times.
Said catcher Kyle Higashioka: "I think we were all a little frustrated."
But the ball/strike calls that really got the Yankees hopping mad came during Clint Frazier's at-bat in a 2-1 game in the fourth. Brett Gardner had homered for the Yankees in the third, but Austin Meadows gave Tampa Bay the lead with a two-run shot in the fourth.
The Yankees had runners on second and third with one out (Rougned Odor had just fouled out to right).
Frazier took six pitches. Five of them were outside of the strike zone. Three of them were called strikes, including the 3-and-2 pitch that rung up Frazier for the second out. Of the three called strikes, that was the only one that was close.
The Yankees did not score as Miguel Andujar struck out to end the inning.
In the fifth, after Cole again walked the leadoff man, Tampa Bay scored three two-out runs to make it 5-1. Brandon Lowe hit an RBI single to right, with Frazier overthrowing the cutoff man on a peg that was up the third-base line.
Frazier not only lost a chance to nail lumbering catcher Mike Zunino at the plate, but he also allowed the runners to advance to second and third. That became significant when Yandy Diaz smacked a two-run single to center.
Cole (6-3), whose ERA went from 1.78 to 2.26, was removed after five. He allowed five hits, walked two and struck out seven.
"I thought, stuff wise, I thought he came out throwing the ball really well," Boone said. "I thought there’s some close pitches that did not go his way, even on [a] couple of the walks. Meadows hit a changeup -- got on it good -- and obviously hit that ball well. But definitely some things that didn’t go his way in the inning where he gave up a few runs that I thought [were] close to going the other way."
Meadows’ three-run double and Joey Wendle’s RBI single off Nick Nelson in the seventh made it 9-1. Boone was tossed after taking out Nelson.
Andujar hit a solo home run (his third home run in four games) in the seventh.
Yarbrough (3-3, 3.95 ERA) threw 113 pitches for his first career complete game. He had been 0-10 in his previous 24 starts.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
