The New York Yankees squandered a golden opportunity to take the first two games of their Subway Series showdown against the New York Mets on Saturday afternoon. But while the team made plenty of mistakes that contributed to a 3-2 loss — an offense that went all-too-quiet in key spots, a shaky performance from reliever Fernando Cruz and, of course, some questionable choices from manager Aaron Boone — fans are instead focusing their ire on one particular missed call that led to the Mets scoring the eventual winning run in the top of the ninth.
Cruz had already worked himself into a jam, putting two on with one out after a walk and an infield single. That brought Tyrone Taylor to the plate with the go-ahead run in scoring position, and set the stage for an all-time ump show. Cruz's 1-1 fastball got away from him, plunking Taylor on the inside of his forearm. But while it hit him, it also seemed like Taylor's half-swing went around.
The Yankees appealed down to first-base umpire Adam Hamari, but Hamari was unmoved — much to Aaron Boone's displeasure. And it's hard to blame him: It sure looked clear that Taylor swung, at least from replay angles. Unfortunately, Hamari disagreed, and Francisco Lindor gave the Mets the lead one batter later with a sacrifice fly.
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Blown call hands Mets win over Yankees in Subway Series
Had Taylor's swing been ruled a strike instead, who knows what would've happened? Instead of loading the bases with one out, Cruz would've been ahead in the count 1-2 with a good chance to record the second out of the inning. The entire complexion of the frame changed with one missed call, a fact that was not lost on Yankees fans after the game.
Again, the Yankees should only be blaming themselves here; New York had plenty of chances to head to the ninth with the lead, but squandered them all. Boone, in particular, reverted back to some of his worst habits, waiting too long to go to his bullpen in the first place and refusing to have nine-hitter Jorbit Rivas bunt with two men on and none out in the bottom of the fifth.
Still, it's always frustrating when one bad call seemingly takes the game out of your hands, and you can't blame Yankees fans for feeling jobbed here. The good news is they'll have Max Fried on the mound to go for a series win on Sunday Night Baseball tomorrow evening.