Aaron Judge’s first career ejection happened so swiftly that he didn’t even realize it at first.
Judge was ejected for the first time in his career after briefly arguing a third-strike call by plate umpire Ryan Blakney during the seventh inning of the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
With one out, Judge took a full-count fastball from Tyler Holton that he felt was slightly outside. Blakney called it a strike, and Judge gave a brief look back before starting to walk toward the dugout. After being ejected by Blakney, Judge returned to argue the call. Manager Aaron Boone came out to discuss the ejection but was not thrown out.
“I didn’t even see myself get tossed,” Judge said. “It was kind of the crowd reaction. I kind of assumed at that point.”
Boone was surprised by the ejection. “Judge, he says very little usually and respectfully walks away,” Boone said. “Come on, man.”
Unlike Boone’s ejection on April 22, which had clear audio on the YES Network, there was no clear audio of the exchange during Judge’s ejection. Crew chief Alan Porter, the third-base umpire, spoke to a pool reporter but didn’t know exactly what was said by Judge, who declined to disclose the details.
