Why Yankees’ Aaron Boone was ejected for 1st time, how his players reacted

Yankees rookie manager Aaron Boone was ejected for the first time this season on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 (5/22/18) in a 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

Watch video

ARLINGTON, Texas — Yankees manager Aaron Boone yelled complaints from the dugout to plate umpire Pat Hoberg on and off during Tuesday night’s 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers.

“I guess he’d heard enough,” Boone said.

Obviously.

When Boone voiced displeasure over a strike called on Gary Sanchez in the Yankees’ sixth, again from the dugout, Hoberg took off his mask, looked Boone’s way and threw him out of the game.

This was Boone’s first ejection of his rookie season as manager, and after getting the thumb, he got his money’s worth by charging out of the dugout to the plate to confront Hoberg face-to-face.

“I was upset with something that went on with the (Aaron) Hicks at-bat and a few things over the course of the night,” Boone said.

Greg Bird could be back by this weekend | What it means

Boone felt that Rangers starter Cole Hamels tried to do a quick-pitch earlier in the inning on Hicks.

“I just got in the box and … I feel like (Hamels) was already in his windup,” Hicks said. “If he’s already (winding up), I had no chance to get ready for the pitch.”

With Sanchez hitting three batters later, Hamels got a called strike on a 1-0 fastball that was chest high, but according to TV replays, called correctly.

To Boone, the pitch looked high though, so he made sure Hoberg knew it and that led to the ejection. By rule, balls and strikes are not allowed to be argued.

No matter, Boone’s players liked seeing their skipper stick up for them.

“Boone is going to look out for us,” Sanchez said. “He was trying to help me on that at-bat. I thought the pitch was high. I guess he said something to the umpire and he threw him out.”

Hicks liked Boone’s response, too.

“You’ve got to fight for your team when you’re the manager,” Hicks said. “Whenever you feel things aren’t going your way, it’s important for (Boone) to kind of be the voice for us.”

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.