Guardians benefit from controversial review vs. Yanks

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Guardians benefit from controversial replay review against Yankees

By Eric Smithling | Last updated Apr 12, 2023 3:01 PM ET

Cleveland had a few extra guardians on its side in the first inning of its game against the Yankees on Wednesday.

After umpires ruled outfielder Aaron Hicks caught a fly ball off the bat of Josh Naylor and doubled up Jose Ramirez at second base to end the inning, a controversial review led to the call being overturned.

Yanks manager Aaron Boone was not a fan of the decision and was thrown out after arguing about it with the umpire crew.

Aaron Boone gets tossed after the umpires overturn the out call on the Aaron Hicks play without a review pic.twitter.com/fFkoBBe8do
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 12, 2023

A replay showed Hicks clearly failed to catch the ball, but it appeared as though Guardians manager Terry Francona didn't initiate a review in the 15-second window given to managers after a play to signal for one.

The Guardians didn't challenge the play, they showed it on the scoreboard and it clearly wasn't a catch so the umpires just decided to ignore the rules and let the Guardians challenge anyway lmfao pic.twitter.com/4hdUfcNe0C
— Gabe (@PlayoffTanaka_) April 12, 2023

Instead, the umpiring crew allowed a review to take place anyway, wiping out the inning-ending double play and scoring Steven Kwan, who began the at-bat on third.

Josh Bell drove in another run on a base hit with two outs to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead after one.

.@JBell_19 extends the @CleGuardians' lead with an RBI-single in the first! #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/xKo4UxNTZW
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 12, 2023

Wednesday's ejection is Boone's first this season after receiving nine last year. He has 16 ejections since the start of the 2021 season, the most by any manager.

Thanks to the pace of play being taken care of this season with the pitch clock, we won't have to wait long to hear his thoughts on the matter. After five innings, Cleveland holds a 3-2 lead.

Eric Smithling

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports. He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf. He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans

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