Yankees and Rays were scoreless in the fifth at Tropicana when things briefly unraveled for New York. Clint Frazier stepped in against Ryan Yarbrough, who worked him with soft stuff on the outside corner before mixing in a sweeper. Frazier fouled one off, worked the count full, then took a borderline pitch that was called strike three. Clearly frustrated, Clint said something that looked mild and was immediately tossed by the home plate ump. The whole exchange was fast and odd. Frazier didn’t appear to say anything aggressive, just a quick remark, possibly “that was down,” but the ejection came out of nowhere.
With Gleyber Torres already unavailable due to COVID protocols, manager Aaron Boone looked more annoyed with Frazier than the ump. Boone didn’t argue and instead tried to cool things down. Frazier looked confused walking off, still trying to explain what happened. The strike call itself was borderline but backed up by tracking data as a strike, even if it felt inside due to the outside-heavy pitch sequence. The umpire, known to favor pitchers, may have overreacted to whatever he thought Frazier said. Boone’s lack of protest was surprising, especially coming from someone usually quick to defend his players. Instead, the Yankees were left short-handed and a little stunned.