A round of boos broke out before Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium, just for Angel Hernandez being introduced as the home plate umpire.
It didn’t take long for Hernandez to be involved in a controversial call.
Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Gleyber Torres had worked a 3-2 count against Bowden Francis. The Blue Jays right-hander then appeared to take a step off the back of the mound before going right into his delivery.
Torres had backed out of the box, seemingly thinking that Francis had stepped off the mound, only for Hernandez to ring Torres up for strike three on a pitch that happened to be a few inches above the strike zone.
Torres immediately pleaded his case with Hernandez, and manager Aaron Boone came out to argue as well.
All four umpires eventually converged for a brief conversation, to no avail for the Yankees, though, as the call stood.
That evoked another loud round of boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd.
Boone went back out to speak with Hernandez after the inning but did not appear to be satisfied with the explanation he received.
The season is still less than two weeks old but Hernandez had already found himself in the middle of controversy before Sunday.
Earlier this week at Citi Field, Hernandez ruled that Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson swung at a pitch that may have hit his finger or his bat, though he did not appear to come close to swinging.