The sun came up on Wednesday and major league baseball umpires did something to anger the baseball world. Something always seems to happen when the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians face off.
In the bottom of the first inning of the Yankees-Guardians game on Wednesday afternoon, Aaron Hicks appeared to have made a sliding catch in center field with runners on second and third and one out. The umpires initially ruled that Hicks caught the ball and doubled off the runner at second — Jose Ramirez — as both teams left the field. While Hicks trapped the ball, the Guardians did not challenge the play in time. The MLB clearly states that teams are given 15 seconds to challenge a play.
Hicks almost makes a great play but upon review the ball was not caught pic.twitter.com/D4AWp7p11P
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 12, 2023
However, after both teams exited the field, the umpires huddled up and allowed the Guardians to challenge the catch. It was announced in the press box at Progressive Field that the Guardians challenged the play and it was not an umpire-initiated review, according to Gary Phillips, who covers the Yankees for the NY Daily News.
The umpires seemingly allowed Guardians manager Terry Francona to have a mulligan for not challenging the play in time and granted Cleveland a challenge despite it not being in accordance with the new pace of play rules. Of course, Yankees manager Aaron Bone was infuriated and was ejected for arguing the call. The Guardians were granted a run on the play, as Steven Kwan tagged up, and they later tacked on another.
Aaron Boone gets tossed after the umpires overturn the out call on the Aaron Hicks play without a review pic.twitter.com/fFkoBBe8do
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 12, 2023
The MLB world reacted to yet another horrible umpire call. Many suggested that the Yankees play Wednesday’s game under protest, but that is no longer permitted under the current rules and has been in effect since 2021, so New York had no option but to argue.
Every time the Guardians and the Yankees meet, something happens.
Last year, it was the fans throwing trash at Straw and this year, the umps can't follow the rules and/or communicate better on whether a challenge was initiated by Tito.
— Dillard Barnhart (@BarnHasSpoken2) April 12, 2023
The Yankees have every right to protest this game.
What an absurd and incorrect call by the umpires. Terry Francona never even challenged the play. https://t.co/91m8PneXyI
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 12, 2023
The Guardians had 15 seconds to challenge that play… here’s Francona doing absolutely nothing during that 15 seconds…
Absolute BS move from the umps #NYY pic.twitter.com/SAQrH0rzM9
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) April 12, 2023
We all can agree that Aaron Hicks didn’t catch the ball and the run should have scored—Hicks is another issue but thats beside the point—the problem is the umpires went above MLB rules and decided to initiate a challenge themselves, which shouldn’t have been done.
— Delia Enriquez (@dfiregirl4) April 12, 2023
Hey, umpires for this Yankees-Guardians game pic.twitter.com/xOxZFRGVqO
— Nick Parco (@nick_parco) April 12, 2023
Protesting a game is basically meaningless but this Yankees-Guardians is the clearest example of a game that should be played under protest.
Umpires just spotted Cleveland a run by challenging a play that Cleveland didn't challenge.
— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) April 12, 2023
Aaron Boone should never leave the field. The umpires making up their own rules for Terry Francona is insane.
— Mike Nash (@MikeNash15) April 12, 2023
All the Guardians-Yankees game is missing right now is the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme
— Casey Drottar (@CDrottar19) April 12, 2023
[Gary Phillips on Twitter]
