The New York Yankees lost to the Houston Astros 8-7 on Wednesday night at Daikin Park after a contentious eighth inning led to the ejections of reliever Devin Williams and manager Aaron Boone.
Williams, who entered in relief, allowed a leadoff double to Carlos Correa before walking Jesús Sánchez. After striking out Yainer Diaz, he walked Christian Walker and struck out Ramón Urías. Taylor Trammell then drew a walk on five pitches, forcing in the go-ahead run for Houston.
Following the bases-loaded walk, Williams was ejected by home-plate umpire Brian Walsh after expressing frustration over what he believed were missed strike calls. “‘You missed four,'” Williams said he told Walsh before being tossed from the game. “When you’re making good pitches, which I was, not getting those calls really changes the course of an at-bat,” Williams said. “Obviously, Correa hit the double, so I kind of had my back against the wall right away. Made some really good pitches to Sánchez, which [Walsh] missed two in that at-bat. You just keep going, right? But at the end of the day, that changes outcomes. I should have had Sánchez [who walked on five pitches] 0-2 instead of 2-1.”
Williams also took issue with a pitch during Trammell’s plate appearance: “The 2-0 pitch was a strike,” he said. “That turns into a 2-2 count instead of a 3-1 count.” He added about his ejection: “I said, ‘I had four that you missed,’ and he threw me out for it,” Williams said. “Never been ejected in my career.”
Boone was also ejected as he replaced Williams with Camilo Doval. The Astros extended their lead when Jeremy Peña singled off Doval and two more runs scored on a balk and wild pitch.
Despite Cody Bellinger hitting a three-run homer for New York in the ninth inning off Bryan Abreu to close the gap, it was not enough for a comeback.
Afterward, Boone commented on his team’s performance: “Obviously, a tough inning,” Boone said of the eighth. “Thought [Devin] was throwing the ball well. Real competitive at-bats — even the walks. A lot of close pitches. They got the best of us tonight.
“We had a lead, a couple chances to add on, and I thought the Astros put some really good at-bats together, really squaring up some pitches against us the second half of the game.”
Yankees catcher Austin Wells agreed there were issues with consistency behind home plate when asked if he thought there were changes in how balls and strikes were called throughout the game: “[Williams] had the right to be frustrated. I felt like there were definitely some calls that we would have loved to go our way,” Wells said after contributing offensively with two doubles and a two-run homer.
“I think our guys made a lot of really good pitches tonight and didn’t get rewarded for it,” Wells continued. “That’s frustrating and feels like it’s been two nights in a row for us. The only thing we’re going to do is stick to the plan and keep going, and I think more times than not, we’ll come up on the other side.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr., who batted after Bellinger’s ninth-inning homer brought New York within one run, also disputed Walsh’s call on what became strike three to end the game.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Williams said regarding Chisholm’s final at-bat call as well as his own experience earlier in relief work. “Jazz got the pitch taken out of his hands on a pitch that was a lot further from the zone than pitches I was making.”
With this loss, New York fell 3½ games behind Toronto in their division race.
