Major League Baseball is taking the unusual step this week of admitting to a blown call.
Speaking with reporters before Friday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone touched on a controversial call from Thursday’s game against the Houston Astros. Though the Yankees won the Astros game by a final score of 8-4, a curious moment occurred in the sixth inning of the contest.
Houston star Jose Altuve chopped a ball to Ryan McMahon of the Yankees at third base. McMahon made the catch but bobbled the ball as he was transferring it out of his glove to look a runner back to second base.
Third-base umpire Brian Walsh ruled that McMahon had not made a successful catch, giving the Astros runners on first and second with no one out. Houston would go on to score a run on the very next at-bat.
You can see the video of the play here.
On Friday, Boone told the media that MLB spoke to him about the McMahon incident. They told Boone that the play should have been ruled a catch, per Andy Martino of SportsNet New York.
The blown call did not really matter in the end since the Yankees still won handily. But MLB’s admission will only further increase the scrutiny on Walsh, who is in just his third season as a big-league umpire. During Wednesday’s game between the Astros and the Yankees, Walsh was behind home plate and also made a controversial call at the end of the game that went against the Yankees.
