The Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees have built one of the best rivalries in the league as of late. They both feature strong offenses, solid pitching, and determination to take the AL East pennant by the end of the season.
That fire was once again at a full display last night when not one, not two, but three members of the Jays were ejected.
The Blue Jays were carrying a no-hitter and a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning before it all went south. Miguel Castro accidentally hit Lourdes Gurriel Jr, then Giancarlo Stanton tied the game at 3. Later, Yimi Garcia hit Josh Donaldson in the left elbow, although it didn't seem intentional.
Even so, the umpire crew decided all of a sudden that he, the pitching coach, and manager Charlie Montoyo were all thrown out:
“Earlier in the game there were some words exchanged between Donaldson and Toronto’s catcher (Heineman), so that definitely played into it. There were pretty strong words," chief umpire Alfonso Marquez said. “Then you have a game-tying home run and the second pitch, which we deemed intentional, which was the reason for the ejection. All that really played into it."
Needless to say, Montoy wasn't exactly thrilled with the explanation, stating that it didn't even make sense to hit a player in the middle of a tied game:
"I’m going to tell you exactly what they told me,'' Montoyo told the media. "The reason they thought that Yimi Garcia threw at Donaldson was because Heineman and Donaldson were yelling at each other in the fifth inning or something. They decided that they thought we threw at Donaldson in a tie game after the home run on the second pitch.”
Donaldson, who played for the Blue Jays, didn't think they actually threw at him on purpose. However, given how the game was shaping, it was hard to give them the benefit of the doubt:
“In my heart of hearts, I don’t think that it was (intentional),’’ Donaldson said. “ (But) it wasn’t a good look.’’
The Blue Jays fought back and jumped to a 5-3 lead in the ninth. But the Yankees were too locked in and a walk-off blast by Aaron Judge sealed the deal:
“I think when Josh got hit, I think that kind of locked all of us in, said OK, it’s go time. Especially me, same thing. It kind of got me going a little bit,” Judge said. “When something like that happens it’s like, OK, we’ve got to go out there and win this one.”
The matchups between these two teams have been must-watch TV thus far and it won't change any time soon.
