The New York Yankees won by double-digit runs for the second consecutive game on April 28 when they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers. While the 15-5 final score could indicate a blowout the whole way, the contest was tied heading into the sixth inning. A seeming interference on Aaron Judge was not called. After the game, crew chief Andy Fletcher admitted they made the wrong call, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Curt Hogg.
“On the field, we got together and did the best that we could to come up with the correct answer. After looking at it off the field in replay, it appears that the call was missed,” Fletcher told a pool reporter, according to Hogg. “It should’ve been called interference because it wasn’t a natural part of his slide. It didn’t appear that way to us. We did everything we could to get together and get it right. But after looking at it, it appears that it should’ve been called interference.”
Yankees Took Advantage of Missed Call
Judge led off the inning with a walk. Alex Verdugo followed up with a ground ball to second baseman Brice Turang. Judge slid into second base, trying to break up a double play, when his hand blocked the relay throw from shortstop Willy Adames to first base. Verdugo remained at first base instead of an interference call resulting in a double play.
The next batter, Giancarlo Stanton, popped out to Turang for what should have been the third out. However, with two outs the Yankees worked three walks, hit four singles and scored seven runs to take an 11-4 lead.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy came out to discuss with the umpires. After a meeting amongst the crew, they deemed there was no interference on the Yankees. The play is not reviewable as confirmed by Fletcher after the contest.
Player and Team Reactions
While the play looked like Judge went out of his way to obstruct Adames’ throw, Judge assured that he was not trying to interfere.
“That’s never happened before in my life,” Judge said. “I’ve been sliding like that for years. I was more concerned about how Adames has a great arm. I thought I broke my finger there. There was no concern on my part [about interference]. I’ve been doing that for years.”
A video posted on Jomboy Media’s Talkin’ Yanks X account confirms Judge has been sliding with his arm up in the past. However, Murphy feels it was an attempt “to purposely obstruct.”
“I think he was trying to purposely obstruct. It’s my opinion,” Murphy said. “I don’t know what his intent was. He seems like a wonderful man, but very competitive also. So there might’ve been a chance.”
Adames pointed out the call’s impact on the game. If called properly the Brewers may have gotten out of the inning without the Yankees scoring at all.
“After you see the result of the game, that means that changed the whole game,” Adames said. “That would’ve been two outs with nobody on. They admitted they messed up. We mess up sometimes. That’s how it goes. They miss a call. We make a bad throw and we take the blame for the L. You never want to intentionally do something to mess up the game. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
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