Aaron Judge collected a pair of hits Saturday, then got hit with the first ejection of his career.
The Yankees’ captain got a quick hook in the bottom of the seventh inning, after he was called out on strikes, glanced quickly back at home plate umpire Ryan Blakney and expressed his displeasure while walking back to the dugout.
Once Blakney tossed Judge from the game — TV replays and field microphones appeared to show Judge saying, “That’s bulls–t, you’ve been bulls–t all game” — the center fielder came back to get his money’s worth, although still in a somewhat measured argument.
Manager Aaron Boone hopped out of the dugout to defend Judge, at times holding him back during his back-and-forth with Blakney.
“Very surprised,” Judge said after the Yankees’ 5-3 win over the Tigers. “Especially a 5-3 game, late in the game, battling 3-2 count, kind of walking away saying my piece.
“I’ve said a lot worse. I usually try not to make a scene in situations like that. So little surprised walking away that happened.”
The 6-foot-7 slugger is no stranger to having low strikes called against him — though this one was a 3-2 fastball that may have just barely clipped the outside edge of the zone — but he rarely shows much outward frustration with umpires.
Boone and Anthony Rizzo both cited Judge’s reputation in saying that Judge should not have gotten tossed so quickly.
“Judgey says very little usually, very respectfully, walking away,” Boone said. “Come on, man. Let’s go.”
“You know these guys, you know the umpires and what you can and cannot say,” Rizzo said. “As much as we get animated because we’re competing and want to be great, there’s a line that you get to and if you cross it, it warrants an ejection. I just don’t think Aaron got to that point.”
Blakney was not made available to a pool reporter, but crew chief Alan Porter (who said Blakney had not told him what Judge said) indicated Judge crossed the line.
“Apparently Aaron did not agree with the pitch and said something that you shouldn’t have said and he was ejected,” Porter said. “We do what we can to keep guys in the game but he said something he shouldn’t have said.”
Judge said he has “a lot of respect” for Blakney and the job umpires do, but was upset about the way the ejection happened — as he was walking back to the dugout — and that it was late in a close game.
“It’s the heat of the moment, 3-2 count, I think it’s a ball, disagree with the call,” Judge said. “Say what you want but get back to the dugout and get the game moving along. So to be facing the dugout walking away and get tossed — I didn’t even see myself get tossed.
“I think it was the crowd reaction what I heard, so I kind of assumed at that point.”
