The New York Yankees came away with an 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, but it was not the normal win, as umpire Angel Hernandez was behind the plate and he made multiple questionable calls for both sides.
First was the incident with Gleyber Torres and Bowden Francis in the first inning. It was a 3-2 count, and Bowden Francis seemingly stepped off of the rubber, then back on and delivered a pitch, which should not have been allowed. Gleyber Torres stepped out of the box, and was not ready for the pitch. Angel Hernandez called it a strike, meaning Torres was out. Meanwhile, after all of this, the pitch was high and should not have been called a strike even if it was legal. Torres was upset, and so was Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who came out of the dugout to hear what Hernandez had to say.
That was not the only incident involving Torres. In the third inning, Torres was rung up on another high breaking ball from Francis.
Luckily, the Yankees did go on to put up a five spot in that inning. There were two outs and a runner on first after Torres struck out, then a Juan Soto single, Aaron Judge walk, and an Anthony Rizzo bases loaded walk tied the game at 1-1. Then, Giancarlo Stanton crushed a grand slam after having a bad call go against him early in the at-bat.
In the top of that inning, Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil displayed frustration with some of Hernandez’s calls. The calls were correct, but Luis Gil did not like them. He walked in a run that inning, but escaped further damage. While undergoing a routine check for sticky substances, Hernandez had a long talk with Gil before letting him go to the dugout.
Not all of the incidents with Hernandez hurt the Yankees. There was a pitch later in the game from Tim Mayza, who threw a pitch right down the middle to Oswaldo Cabrera that was called a ball by Hernandez.
Fan reactions to Angel Hernandez’s calls in Blue Jays vs Yankees
As expected, there were many reactions to Hernandez’s calls during Sunday’s game on social media. One came from Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
“This should be Angel Hernandez’s last game. Enough already,” Jon Heyman said on X.
It is rare to see a reporter like Heyman say that so openly about an umpire. That usually comes from fans. Don’t worry, there were plenty of those too.
“How does bro still have a job,” @WrldOfTatum wrote on X.
“Dude can pump out these calls all day, never stop being the best at being the absolute worst Angel.” @AmirDapl wrote on X.
In the end, the Yankees came away with a pretty comfortable 8-3 win over the Blue Jays to take two out of three in the series.
