First baseman Anthony Rizzo of the Yankees was furious after umpire DJ Reyburn overturned the call for a fastball hit because he leaned into the play.
Although Anthony Rizzo has always come across as one of baseball’s nicest players, on Monday we got to witness him almost hulk out over a dispute with an umpire.
Rizzo was facing Rays pitcher Ryan Yarbrough in the bottom of the third when he took a curveball to the leg.
Despite the Yankees infielder’s expectations, home plate umpire DJ Reyburn determined that he had leaned into the pitch.
After the umpire overturns a hit by pitch, Anthony Rizzo loses it
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Manager Aaron Boone and Rizzo came out of the dugout as soon as the call was made to confront the ump.
Rizzo may have been ejected given how enraged he was, but he avoided it by swinging and missing on the following ball to strike out.
He was still feeling very emotional when he returned to the dugout.
Where the hell was I supposed to go? Rizzo was heard saying it thereafter in audible detail on camera.
Rizzo becoming enraged is unusual. It took a rare phone call for him to finally let it out.
The umpire had the right to rule against that hit by pitch, but it wasn’t absolutely required. The baseball was in Rizzo’s batter’s box after leaving the plate. Sure, he could have prevented it more effectively. He also didn’t engage in excessive bodily manipulation.
That call may have been reserved by the umpire for when a player attempted to lean into the strike zone to obtain an HBP. That was not this.
Rizzo’s annoyance could be related to more than simply the overturned call, regardless of the call. The Yankees recently lost series to the Red Sox, Cardinals, Mariners, and Mariners once again. As the Rays won the opening game of this week’s series 4-0 on Monday night, they had just lost DJ LeMahieu to injury and had dropped their 11th game in their previous 14…
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