Aaron Judge on being robbed of home run by umps: ‘It was a fair ball’

For all of the controversy around the New York Yankees matchup with the division-rival Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, you'd have thought that the outcome was much more in doubt for Aaron Judge and the Bronx Bombers. That couldn't be further from the truth, though, as Max Fried flirted with a no-hit bid (one ruined by the Rays official scorer two innings after the fact) and the Yankees rolled to a 4-0 win.

In addition to Fried's no-hit bid being ostensibly stolen from him unexpectedly, though, one of the other moments of controversy involved Judge, the Yankees captain.

Up to bat in the eighth inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Rays temporary home stadium and the Yankees spring training stadium, Judge absolutely mauled a pitch to left field with a blast that teammate Cody Bellinger thought was the farthest ball he's ever seen hit. In the moment, Judge thought it was fair, as did most of the Yankees in the building.

Third-base umpire Scott Barry, however, thought differently. He called it foul on the field and, though the crew chief did go into a video review, they couldn't definitively conclude whether it was a fair ball or not, so they kept the foul ruling on the field. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected while Judge went on to strike out in the at-bat.

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Aaron Judge believes umps robbed him of a home run

Judge, of course, was asked about the umpires' decision after the game and he was surprisingly frank with his assessment, though he did handle it with the typical class that we've come to expect from the Yankees captain.

"It was a fair ball," Judge said via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "But that’s why we’ve got replay. It’s not on the umpires; it’s tough when you’re in a situation like this in a Minor League park where the foul poles aren’t as high, so that’s why you have replay. They have every angle."

Judge went on to say that he felt like most people were "kind of scratching their head" but added that it's not his decision, there isn't anything he's going to be able to do to change the outcome, and that he and the Yankees just have to move on.

The deep drive to left field would've been Judge's eighth home run of the season. Instead, he finished the day going 1-for-4 with a single.

Having said that, we're going to continue to see stuff like this at the spring training complex where the Rays are playing home games this season. The foul poles, as Hoch noted, are only 30 feet tall, the MLB minimum height. Most stadiums have poles that are much taller and, thus, make it easier to determine fair and foul balls either live or on replay. So there's a chance this won't be the only time an incident such as this happens.

Judge seems to be taking it in stride, even if he clearly would've liked to add another home to his tally this season. However, for a guy who still has a 1.202 OPS on the season, I'd say things are still going plenty right for the Yankees captain.