DOUBLE TAKE
Stanton stung by home run turned foul turned 2-bagger
Some sage philosopher once claimed you will see something new in every baseball game. Well, Thursday the Yankees came up with a home run that looked like a triple, became a double, but could have been foul. Typical stuff.
“I don’t know what was going on there,” said Giancarlo Stanton, the one who hit the ball in question. Join the club. Stanton, who has been operating with a tight left hamstring that put him in the designated hitter’s role for a ninth straight game, sent a shot to right field with two out and a runner on second base in the eighth inning of what became a 3-1 loss to the Rays in The Bronx.
The ball hit the yellow foul-line stripe on the wall and bounced around the outfield. Rays right fielder Mallex Smith signaled foul ball. First-base umpire Greg Gibson originally ruled it a home run. Stanton kept running, but slowed at the homer call.
It went to a crew-chief review. The ball clearly never went over the wall and was eventually ruled a double.
“Unfortunately that always seems to be the default, make it a double which is what I was upset about,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel in those spots, let’s grind a little harder. Especially, Giancarlo is grinding it out and clearly would have been at third base.”
Crew chief Jerry Layne later said Gibson “thought it was a home run and he didn’t see it very clearly because it was ricocheting. … It was changed by replay.”
Layne, who was also the home-plate ump, said the replay confirmed the eventual placements were correct.
“It said that it was a fair ball instead of foul like we thought,” Layne said. “Originally Greg thought it was a home run and then said, ‘I think it was foul because it hit the wall in foul.’ ”
It was momentarily ruled foul. The umps figured there would be a review.
There was. Bottom line, they got it right.
“I just knew it was fair,” Stanton said. “But going from fair to home run to foul and having us have to do a replay it should have been a triple from Smith’s reaction to how far it bounced off.”
Stanton acknowledged the play did not overly impact the defeat.
“[It could] change more with less than two outs, but the only difference there if
[is] I’m on third and a ball in the dirt or something,” Stanton said.
The last thing the Yankees need is for Stanton to run more than required. Despite Stanton dealing with the injury, Boone said they haven’t considering putting him on the 10-day disabled list.
“If it was that kind of situation we’d have to make that tough call regardless,’’ Boone said before the game. “It’s something that he’s
done a really nice job of managing. It’s showing some improvement.”
The Yankees conceivably could give Stanton four straight days off. They are off Monday and Thursday, while Tuesday and Wednesday the Yankees are in Miami, where there will be no DH.
“We’ll see where he is,’’ Boone said. “If it’s at all an issue, that’s something we’ll absolutely consider.”