"He’s the Yankees' manager so he’s the one that had to go" - Hunter Wendelstedt backs decision to eject Aaron Boone despite heckles coming from fan
It was a shocking Monday afternoon for the New York Yankees as they lost 2-0 to the visiting Oakland A's after team skipper Aaron Boone got ejected by the home plate umpire just five pitches into the game
One pitch after Hunter Wendelstedt warned Boone about arguing, he tossed Boone after hearing disparaging words coming from the vicinity of the New York dugout. But the words apparently came from a fan sitting right above the dugout.
Having heard something from the dugout area, Wendelstedt ejected Boone.
"Aaron Boone is the manager of the New York Yankees and is responsible for everything that happens in that dugout," Wendelstedt via a pool reporter from MLB.com. "I don’t want to eject a ballplayer. We need to keep them in the game. That’s what the fans pay to see. Aaron Boone runs the Yankees. He got ejected.
"Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying.
"I heard something come from the far end of the dugout, had nothing to do with his area but he’s the manager of the Yankees. So he’s the one that had to go.”
Boone, who isn't happy with this ejection as he felt it to be bad judgment, said he is ready to take it up to the MLB.
Aaron Boone frustrated after erroneous ejection by umpire Hunter Wendelstedt
Yankees skipper Aaron Boone is frustrated after the erroneous ejection by Hunter Wendelstedt in Monday's game against A's.
"I really didn't even go after Hunter," Boone said. "He was more upset that you know, on appeal, and I said, 'Hunter, you can call it, too, and he came back at me pretty hard to watch. I didn't respond. I just said, 'OK,' went down. And it's it's embarrassing. That really is bad. It's embarrassing."
It wasn't the Yankees' day. First, they lost their manager in the first inning. Then, they lost to the A's thanks to Zack Gelof's two-run homer in the ninth.
The Yanks are set to face the Athletics for the next three days, and Boone and the team will try to turn the table and get back on the winning track.