After Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah plunked Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium, New York pitcher Gerrit Cole came out of the dugout and took offense to the pitch thrown by Manoah.
Judge was not happy when he was hit by the pitch, but when Cole and others exited the dugout in the near brawl, the Yankees outfielder told his teammates to go back to the dugout.
Cole was the most animated teammate coming to the defense of Judge, as he yelled repeatedly in Manoah’s direction.
When interviewed in the postgame by reporters, Manoah said he had no ill-intent behind the pitch.
“Been struggling with my sinker for about five, six starts now,” Manoah said. “I made a pitch and it obviously hit Judge. I looked at him, said, ‘Man, you know I’m not trying to do that.’”
Manoah knew Judge was upset, but believed that the outfielder understood that it wasn’t intentional once they had a discussion up the first base line. Despite that conversation with Judge, Manoah believed that Cole still had an issue with the pitch.
“I think if Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past that Audi sign next time,” Manoah said as he referenced the logo that’s painted on the grass by the dugout.
Cole did not get into too much detail when asked about the incident postgame. He said he didn’t necessarily think that Manoah hit Judge intentionally, but did say that it was “one too many batters hit” for his taste.
As the two teams continue to do battle down the stretch of the season, there will certainly be added heat to the divisional matchups with playoff hopes on the line.
