For those who thought Aaron Boone might have nothing to get ejected about with the arrival of the automated ball-strike system, think again.
The Yankees manager picked up his first ejection late in Thursday’s 11-4 loss to the Angels, getting tossed by home plate umpire Will Little at the end of the eighth inning for arguing a balk call from the top of the eighth.
“I still haven’t gotten good clarity, because of course they got overly sensitive when I was as calm as could be,” said Boone, who first went out to talk to Little in the middle of the eighth before going out again at the end of the frame.
“I wasn’t out there arguing, I just wanted to hear their explanation. I’m going to wait to get more clarity. I think it’s a fine play.”
First base umpire Ryan Additon called the balk on lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who tried to pick off the man at first with runners on first and second and two outs in what was then a 7-4 game.
Boone said the Yankees had a play on for Yarbrough to attempt a pickoff at first and thought the throw over was within the rules. But he was dissatisfied with the lack of explanation for why it was called a balk.
“Will gave it to me behind home plate, but then I wanted what I thought should have been more of an explanation,” said Boone, who has led the AL in ejections in each of the last five years. “So I went out to talk to Ryan out at first and [crew chief Lance Barksdale] cut me off.”
Gerrit Cole will be on a pitch count around the mid-40s Friday night as he starts a rehab assignment at Double-A Somerset, which, if it goes well, could have him back in The Bronx in around a month.
The plan is for Cole to get fully built up on his minor-league assignment, instead of doing what the Yankees did with Cam Schlittler to start this season and taking him at around 70 pitches to finish off that buildup in the big leagues.
“It’s one step at a time,” Boone said. “Looking forward to him starting on Friday and we’ll build him from there. Even when he gets back to us, we’ll probably be conservative with him.”
Rehab assignments come with a 30-day clock for pitchers — May 16 would be the final day of that for Cole — but those coming back from Tommy John surgery, as the former AL Cy Young winner is, can extend that window if needed.
Carlos Rodón, meanwhile, could be back shortly before Cole.
The left-hander, whose return from elbow surgery was delayed by a hamstring issue, is scheduled to throw live batting practice Saturday, after which he could get cleared to begin a rehab assignment that would likely include “at least” three games — potentially putting him in a position to rejoin the Yankees in the second week of May.
Oswald Peraza tormented his former team all series, going 2-for-4 with a double, home run, walk and three RBIs on Thursday after going 3-for-3 with a homer and a walk Tuesday.
“Man, he looked like what we were excited about several years ago,” Boone said. “Then obviously went through a couple years of really struggling. He’s super talented, always has been. … Clearly in as good a place as he’s been in a few years.”
For the first time this season, the scuffling Ryan McMahon did not play third base during a Max Fried start.
Despite Boone’s stated preference to have the defensively gifted McMahon handling the hot corner for Fried, who generates a high clip of ground balls there, he started Amed Rosario to balance the lineup on a day when the Angels were throwing a bullpen game.
The Yankees lost their automated ball-strike system challenges by the bottom of the third inning Thursday.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham were both proven wrong trying to get strikes turned into balls.
