BRONX, N.Y. — Without a single out recorded in the Yankees’ 2-0 series-opening loss against the Oakland Athletics on Monday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, manager Aaron Boone was ejected from the game for making remarks to home-plate umpire Hunter Wendlestadt.
The problem was that Boone never said anything.
“I really didn’t go after Hunter, I was more upset on the appeal,” Boone said after the game. “I said ‘Hunter you can call it too’ and he
came at me pretty hard, to which I didn’t respond I just said ‘ok,’ went down [to the dugout].”
Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon hit Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz in the back foot. As Tyler Nevin stepped to bat, Wendlestadt was heard issuing a warning toward the Yankees’ dugout, which was chatting with the home plate umpire after he appealed to his crew to confirm the call.
“You’re not yelling at me. I did what I was supposed to do and checked. I’m looking for him to get hit by the pitch,” hot mics on the YES Network broadcast picked up Wendlestadt saying toward the Yankees’ dugout. “If you’ve got anything else to say, you’re gone, OK?”
Eight seconds later, while Boone was checking his nails and visibly not saying anything, Wendlestadt hollered “Aaron, you’re gone!” and ran him from the game.
Aaron Boone listened to the umpire and was ejected anyway. You can hear the entire interaction here pic.twitter.com/12RTZvdwDl
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 22, 2024
Boone immediately jumped out of the dugout in disbelief saying that it was not him. That is because it clearly was not. Instead, a Yankees fan sitting behind the dugout chirped something toward home plate that Wendlestadt believed was Boone.
While the manager began to plead his innocence, Wendlestadt retorted, “I don’t care who said it, you’re gone.”
Yankees bench coach Brad Asmus instinctively pointed behind the dugout, motioning to the fan wearing a blue polo shirt Boone, even though he had his back to Asmus and didn’t see what he was doing, did the same
motion toward the area of the heckling fan.
Boone proceeded to jog up to the plate to confront Wendlestadt, repeatedly saying, “I did not say anything,” while motioning to the area behind the dugout.
Boone said that he didn’t hear what the fan said but he did hear someone yelling something from behind him.
“But again, I was standing down and I heard ‘You’re gone Aaron’,” Boone explained.
After the game, Boone was asked if this was a scenario where he’d reach out to Major League Baseball.
“Yeah, I mean… yeah. Yes,” Boone said. “Just not good.”
It was Boone’s second ejection of the season.
New York fell to Oakland 2-0 thanks to a ninth-inning, two-run home run by Zack Gelof off reliever Victor Gonzalez to stop the Athletics’ eight-game losing streak.
The result soured Rodon’s big day minus that early hit batter. He allowed just one hit across seven innings of shutout baseball with four strikeouts. But JP Sears matched Rodon in posting zeroes, going six shutout innings while allowing three hits with seven strikeouts of his own.
