The Blue Jays can’t seem to let it go.
Toronto had contacted MLB about the Yankees base coaches standing outside the designated box in the aftermath of the Aaron Judge eye-shifting controversy from Monday night.
Though MLB did not find any indication that there were any major rule violations in Monday’s game, the Blue Jays seem to want to be sure the Yankees weren’t catching on to any potential tipped pitches.
Both Yankees’ base coaches had started Tuesday night’s game in their respective boxes.
But in the top of the third inning with runners on first and second with one out, Blue Jay manager John Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker seemed to take issue from the dugout with where Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas was situated.
This promoted a home plate umpire James Hoye to visit an angry Rojas, who the YES cameras appear to catch him asking, “are you f—king kidding me.”
That brought some more talking from the Blue Jays dugout with Schneider seeming to tell someone to “shut up fat boy, shut up” as Yankees manager Aaron Boone made his way to third base to chat with Hoye.
Boone, Rojas, and Hoye appeared to come to some understanding as the YES booth speculated it was in regard to the Blue Jays coaches also being outside the boxes.
All this tension stems from Monday night when the Blue Jays television booth noticed Judge’s eye shifting toward the Yankees dugout during an eighth-inning at-bat, in which he eventually crushed a 462-foot home run — his second of the game.
Judge said after Monday’s game that he was glancing at teammates “chirping” at the umpire after Boone has been ejected.
The Blue Jays didn’t seem to buy that story.
Schnieder said before Tuesday’s contest that it was Toronto’s job to make sure his team played clean, but also that the Yankees were following the rules.
“There’s boxes on the field for a reason,” Schneider told reporters.
“What’s fair is fair,” he added. “If our guys are giving stuff up, we have to be better at that.”
Yankees pitcher Domingo German was also ejected for sticky stuff on Tuesday.