He left the stadium after complaining about the ball decision against Detroit.

Judge expressing dissatisfaction with being sent off (right)

‘Home run king‘ Aaron Judge (32, New York Yankees), who is suffering from extreme slump this year, suffered the humiliation of being ejected for the first time in his life while expressing dissatisfaction with the umpire’s ball decision.

Judge faced Detroit left-handed bullpen Tyler Holton with one out in the bottom of the 7th inning, leading 5-3 in the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) home game against the Detroit Tigers held at Yankee Stadium in New York on the 5th (Korean time).

He held back the outside fastball on the 7th pitch after a full count, and referee Ryan Blackney ruled it a strike.

When I looked at the game day provided by MLB.com, it was an ambiguous ball that was slightly in the strike zone.

Judge, who recorded a striking strikeout, expressed his dissatisfaction with the referee’s ball decision.

Although he didn’t act harshly, he looked at the referee and said something incomprehensible, and muttered to himself as he entered the dugout.

As a result, the referee sent the judge off.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone immediately came to the ground and complained to the umpire, and Judge also complained and went into the dugout.

MLB.com reported, “Judge was ordered to be ejected for the first time since his debut. Additionally, this was the first time a Yankees captain was ejected since Don Mattingly (current Toronto Blue Jays bench coach) on May 13, 1994.”

Referee chief Alan Porter explained the situation in an interview with MLB.com after the game, saying, “Judge said something he shouldn’t have said,” and “There are things you shouldn’t say no matter what.”

When asked by reporters what he had said, Judge replied, “I will leave what I said on the field.”

Judge is the leading MLB hitter who hit 62 home runs in 2022, breaking the AL record for most home runs (61) in a single season set by Roger Maris in 1961 for the first time in 61 years.

He was praised as the ‘clean home run king’ by hitting more than 60 home runs without relying on drugs.

However, Judge’s career went downhill last year due to injuries.

Due to a ruptured ligament in his right big toe during the season, he only played in 106 games and posted somewhat disappointing results with a batting average of 0.267, 37 home runs, and 75 RBI.

He is suffering from injuries and poor performance this season as well. He was unable to train for a while due to abdominal pain ahead of the opening of this season, and achieved poor results with a batting average of 0.209, 6 home runs, and 19 RBI in 35 regular season games.

In this game, he went 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored, and the Yankees won 5-3. 섯다