TORONTO -- Tempers boiled over in the eighth inning of the Blue Jays' 8-3 loss to the Yankees at Rogers Centre, and Toronto manager John Schneider was ejected.
In a tense situation with Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second and the score tied, Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman kicked his leg and spun to second in an attempt to keep the runner close. Home-plate umpire Steven Jaschinski ruled Hoffman’s pickoff to be a balk, bringing Schneider out of the dugout.
Schneider, known for some fiery moments with umpires, started calmly but quickly amped up the intensity. The conversation appeared to end amicably before Schneider circled back toward home plate, prompting the ejection from Jaschinski, a Triple-A fill-in umpire.
That’s when Schneider really heated up, pushing harder to get his point across to Jaschinski. Associate manager DeMarlo Hale, along with second-base umpire (and crew chief) John Tumpane, eventually broke up the ruckus, giving Schneider his leave. This was Schneider’s second ejection of the season.
“I didn’t think it was a balk,” Schneider said after the game.
While the balk was the final stressor, Schneider’s discontent was sparked earlier in the contest. In the sixth inning, Yankees infielder José Caballero had a prolonged discussion at home plate with Jaschinski concerning his apparent violation of the pitch clock.
After much deliberation, Tumpane issued Caballero a formal warning for delaying the game. In Schneider’s eyes, the umpiring crew spent far more energy on that situation compared with Hoffman’s in the eighth.
“I thought that they could have maybe put as much focus and attention on that play as they did the 10-minute conversation with José Caballero, who seems to have a problem with the pitch clock,” Schneider said. “That's when I got a little bit upset.”
Hoffman would ultimately work out of the jam with two key strikeouts.