TAMPA, Fla. – One of the newest Yankees, playing against his old team, Jose Caballero’s odd 10th inning odyssey on the bases ended with his ill-timed ejection from Wednesday night’s game.
“Really frustrated. I have to do better next time,” said Caballero, after the Yankees’ dramatic 6-4 win against the Rays at Steinbrenner Field, in 10 innings.
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“Can’t happen,” said Aaron Boone, who spoke with Caballero about his over-the-top reaction, which forced the Yanks’ manager to play Giancarlo Stanton in right field in the 10th.
Amed Rosario, the last player on the Yanks’ bench, was already ticketed to play third base after Stanton’s tie-breaking homer as a pinch-hitter for Ryan McMahon.
“In that situation…you’ve got to turn away and let me handle that,” said Boone. As a player, “you can’t allow yourself to cross a line.”
On first base in the 10th, with the Yanks ahead 6-3, the speedy Caballero (who had already stolen his league-leading 40th base) drew three throws from Rays closer Pete Fairbanks.
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The last throw didn’t count as a disengagement since Fairbanks was not on the pitching plate, though the decision not to award Caballero second base required a conference of all four umps.
Caballero, who also survived one Rays’ replay challenge at first base, then took off for second for an easy stolen base – until he was called out by second base ump Roberto Ortiz for over-sliding the bag.
After the out call was confirmed on replay, Caballero confronted Ortiz and earned a quick ejection as Boone rushed out in a frantic – but too late – attempt to save his player, who kept up his aggressive argument.
“I wasn’t happy about the call,” said Caballero, traded to the Yanks from Tampa Bay at MLB’s July 31 deadline. “There’s no way you can see that I came off the bag…in real time.
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“I was just frustrated. I said it multiple times and he didn’t like it.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: “Obviously can’t happen:” Yankees’ Jose Caballero gets tossed from Wednesday’s game at a critical time