One badly missed call. Two Yankees’ coaches ejected. Constant derogatory chants at the umpires.
It was a wild finish to the Red Sox’s sweep of the Yankees in The Bronx on Sunday night — highlighted by third base coach Phil Nevin and bench coach Carlos Mendoza getting tossed.
Still not cleared to return to his on-field duties after a lengthy bout with COVID-19, Nevin got thrown out after his fiery reaction to home plate umpire Gabe Morales’ blown called third strike to end the ninth inning. A few pitches into the 10th, Nevin was joined by Mendoza.
“Obviously very frustrated, and you saw some of that emotion spill over,” manager Aaron Boone said following the Yankees’ fourth straight loss, a 6-5, 10-inning setback, and 10th in 13 games.
After Morales punched out Rougned Odor with two outs and the winning run on third on a pitch that was well wide and high, Nevin let him know about it. Morales threw him out and Nevin went out to home plate to further express himself.
Nevin hadn’t yet been medically cleared to coach third base after first being diagnosed with the coronavirus in early May and only returned to the team on Friday. Nevin, who suffers from asthma, still has an IV port in his left arm and is getting treatment for a staph infection in his blood after a long battle with the virus. That didn’t stop him, though, from expressing himself.
“Obviously, I was a little worried about him right there,” Boone said. “I was concerned for him. You guys all know Phil and how fiery he is.”
Mendoza joined Nevin after a 3-2 pitch to Bobby Dalbec was called low by Morales to start the 10th. This time, according to Statcast, Morales was accurate. After the pitch, catcher Gary Sanchez began arguing with Morales and Mendoza was tossed by the second base umpire and crew chief Bill Miller, although it looked like hitting coach Marcus Thames was the one yelling at Morales. Boone called Mendoza’s ejection “absolutely ridiculous.”
Asked if he was given an explanation by Miller, he said: “not a good one.”
Aaron Judge declined to offer much of an opinion on the pitch to Odor, but was thrilled to see how his coaches reacted to it.
“I love it. We’re fighting. That’s heart, that’s competitiveness and everything you want from a coach,” he said. “We want every single pitch, every single win. That shows me they want the best for us.”
