Rizzo plunked but gets denied first base
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NEW YORK -- There was no denying that Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch in the third inning Monday night. Only home-plate umpire D.J. Reyburn wasn’t convinced the Yankees’ first baseman deserved to reach base after getting plunked.
Rizzo was hit on the right thigh by Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough’s 1-2 breaking ball, but as Rizzo began to head toward first base, Reyburn immediately signaled that the batter would not be awarded first base, ruling that Rizzo didn’t make an attempt to get out of the way of the ball.
As the ball was headed for Rizzo, he appeared to be moving into the hitting position before realizing the ball was about to hit him.
“Yarbrough throws a big sweeping slider; if I bail out of the way of that and it comes back as a strike, I'm going to be pretty annoyed,” Rizzo said. “I have to wait until the last second there. I don't wear any pads up there, I'm pretty good at bracing for the balls. It’s one of those things where I braced for it. It is what it is.”
Rizzo tried to argue his case, as did manager Aaron Boone, who emerged from the dugout to find out why his player wasn’t being sent to first base.
“Bad call,” Boone said. “Where's he supposed to go? He's making a move to hit and he turns into that. It's a missed pitch; it’s across the plate and into the box; Rizzo is all over the plate; he can’t get out of the way of that. Once he starts to make his move to hit, he rolls the hip in. I didn't think it was the right call.”
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That the Yankees had a runner at first base with one out made the non-call even more frustrating for Rizzo, who has been hit 195 times in his career, the most of any active player. Rizzo went on to strike out, the first of three K’s for him in the game. The Yankees lost, 4-0, marking their second straight shutout defeat.
“Whenever you feel like you got screwed over on a call at any time, it's annoying,” Rizzo said. “We’re out here competing at the highest level and I'm OK talking to you guys, and the umpires have zero accountability when they miss something like that. I know they're not trying to miss, but it's just frustrating. It doesn't matter when it happens.”