Aaron Boone ejected after defending Aaron Judge, who then blasts a monster home run
TORONTO ― Aaron Boone got his point across and then some, after being ejected for - once again - defending slugger Aaron Judge's judgment of the strike zone.
The New York Yankees manager finished with his signature flourish, winding up and firing a piece of chewing gum toward the visitor's dugout at Rogers Centre.
And maybe that sparked something.
Or was there something else getting Judge's attention in the dugout?
More on that in a minute.
Boone had barely reached the manager's office before Judge blasted his second home run of Monday night, a tremendous 462-foot blast that landed in the restaurant high above the center field batter's eye.
Judge's team-leading 10th homer of the year gave the Yankees a 7-0 lead in the eighth inning, and the Yanks held on for a 7-4 win against the Toronto Blue Jays before 28,810 fans.
But did something catch Judge's eye before that titanic blast?
Yankees' take on Aaron Judge's second home run
Judge's first-inning solo homer was part of a three-run first off noted Yankee slayer Alek Manoah, whose mid-May ERA is a shocking 5.40.
Before Judge's second home run, during his eighth inning at-bat, cameras caught the Yankees' captain taking a darting glance at the Yankees' dugout right before a few pitches by reliever Jay Jackson.
Blue Jays TV broadcasters Dan Schulman and Buck Martinez wondered about what Judge might be peering at, with Martinez, an ex-big league catcher, all but dismissing the idea that Judge could be peeking at catcher Alejandro Kirk's setup.
In his office right after the ejection, Boone said he heard the Jays' broadcast. But according to Boone, Judge was trying to see which Yankees players were chirping during his at-bat.
Well, no surprise, that version was the same one given by Judge.
Smile. Pause. Answer.
“A lot of chirping from our dugout, which I really didn’t like in a situation where it’s a 6-0 game and Boonie got tossed,'' Judge said.
“I was trying to save Boonie by calling timeout. Like, hey, hold up here, let me work here. I was kind of trying to see who was chirping in the dugout…so it’s, Boonie got tossed, let’s go to work.’’
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Aaron Boone gets his money's worth
Maybe Jackson was tipping his pitches, and someone in the Yankees' dugout caught it.
Maybe Judge was sitting on sliders.
Once Judge's at-bat resumed after the Boone ejection, the reigning AL MVP took two more sliders before slamming a 3-2 slider into orbit.
"(Jackson) was throwing a lot of sliders,'' Judge said. "That one just stayed up.''
Both the Yankees and Blue Jays had issues with the generous strike zone of plate ump Clint Vondrak, but things simmered to a boil for Boone in the eighth.
That's when a low 1-1 slider was called a strike on Judge, a below-the-knees call that has historically rankled Boone and the Yanks' bench.
Whatever Boone said that got him ejected, he didn’t feel was warranted.
“That’s why I got upset when he threw me out,’’ said Boone. “Just glad we were able to hang on.’’
After initially retreating toward the dugout, Boone spun back to argue some more, but was intercepted by first base umpire and crew chief James Hoye.
“I like Boonie sticking up for me, he always does,’’ said Judge, who was sticking to his story about teammates chirping in the dugout during his at-bat, and sort of being...a distraction?
“I said a couple things to some guys in the dugout and especially after the game,’’ Judge said. “Hopefully, it won’t happen again.’’
Again, the paid attendance at Rogers Centre, which also has a booming sound system, was 28,810.