“Umpires honoring Angel Hernandez tonight” - MLB fans react to Aaron Boone’s ejection over in-field fly rule play at Yankees vs Angels game
Wednesday's game between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels saw manager Aaron Boone get ejected after Juan Soto was called out for interference. It happened in the first inning when Giancarlo Stanton barreled the ball high up in the sky with bases loaded and no man out.
The ball was coming sharply at second base with shortstop Zach Neto under it and the umpires activating the infield fly ball rule. While this happened, Soto was tracking back to second base, and while at it, he made physical contact with Neto, which resulted in the shortstop dropping the catch. The onfield umpires deemed it as an interference and apart from calling out Stanton, they also called out Soto.
This led to Boone jumping from his dugout and rushing to the field to get an explanation on the controversial ruling. Not happy with any of it, the discussion soon turned heated, resulting him being thrown out of the game.
Fans on the internet didn't like the call as one fan took a hilarious Angel Hernandez reference to mock the onfield umpire's call there.
"Umpires honoring Angel Hernandez tonight," one fan commented.
"Worst call," another posted.
"Umps said this game for you Angel," another wrote.
Some fans became the officials themselves and said what should have been the ruling instead:
"Looking forward to MLB saying this call was wrong tomorrow. I’ll ask them," one wrote.
"NOT INTERFERENCE," another claimed.
"Terrible call embarrassing Soto literately tried to go behind em and he backed up into him🤡" another added.
Aaron Boone's argument and what the rule states on this matter
Though not certain, Aaron Boone had his objection towards the call, maybe due to Juan Soto not having a clear return to second base without making an actual contact. However, Boones did not have his way but let's see what Rule 6.01(a) states:
“A runner who is adjudged to have hindered a fielder who is attempting to make a play on a batted ball is out whether it was intentional or not.”
As per the rules, Soto did make contact and possibly hindered the fielder while on his way back. But the rule doesn't account for having a clear base path, which Soto didn't have here.
A similar and maybe more erroneous call was made on May 23 between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox. During an exciting ball game where the White Sox were mounting a comeback, Andrew Vaughn was called out for interference during an infield fly ball for having minimal contact with the Orioles' shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
White Sox general manager Chris Getz stated that Major League Baseball informed him that "it is a judgment play [and] that there is discretion" on the part of the umpires.
While the rule is still up for debate, there are always going to be two sides to it.