Jordan Montgomery made his debut with the Yankees, but the early action had little to do with him. Brett Gardner appeared to strike out on a check swing, but the umpire ruled he didn’t go. Even Gardner seemed surprised and started walking off before pretending he was just tossing his bat. On the next batter, with the same umpire on the same kind of check swing call, things escalated. A-Rod checked his swing on a full count, but instead of striking out, walked again. Mariners catcher Jesus Sucre reacted, and the home plate umpire warned him to stay quiet. Sucre responded and immediately got tossed. The Mariners’ bench wasn’t happy.
Manager Lloyd McClendon stormed out, furious that Sucre was ejected when he barely said anything. He got tossed almost immediately after lighting into the umpires with a long, expletive-filled rant. He capped it off by throwing his hat and angrily kicking it across the field. McClendon made the rounds, yelling at nearly every ump on the crew, pointing fingers and accusing them of blowing the same call twice. The third base and second base umpires caught some heat too, even though they hadn’t been part of the original check swing calls.
Not long after the chaos, Teixeira hit a double that scored a run, making the missed strikeout feel even more costly for Seattle. The game went into extras, and the Yankees eventually pulled out the win. A-Rod and Teixeira both came through late. McClendon’s outburst may have stolen the moment, but the scoreboard still belonged to New York.