New York Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin believes the umpire instigated the verbal altercations on Saturday.
On Saturday, in the midst of a 6-5 win over the Cleveland Indians, the New York Yankees exchanged words with the umpires. After arguing balls and strikes when outfielder Cameron Maybin was struck out, Aaron Boone was ejected by home plate umpire Ben May.
First base umpire Phil Cuzzi then ejected CC Sabathia and Brett Gardner, the latter for banging his bat on the roof of the dugout.
Despite the victory, Maybin believed the home plate umpire was the one originally instigating the entire situation.
“He was egging it on the whole time,” Maybin said via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “I asked him a question. I asked him how he can make that call, he was very sure of himself that that pitch was right there. It wasn’t. After that, it should have been over. He continued to stare into the dugout.”
Gardner didn’t reach base prior to getting tossed, having gone 0-for-3 on the day.
Sabathia was ejected despite having been on the injured list. He returned to pitch on Sunday at Yankee Stadium in the series finale against Cleveland.
After this current four-game set, the Yanks will begin a nine-game west-coast road trip on Tuesday. They’ll have three separate three-game series against the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Seattle Mariners. They won’t return to the Bronx until Friday, Aug. 30.
If the Bombers keep at their current pace, they’ll achieve the top seed for the American League playoffs. Entering Sunday, they were sporting an 83-42 record, sitting 10.5 games in first place in the AL East division.
