OAKLAND, Calif. — No one was happy with third base umpire Will Little on Saturday.
Not Nestor Cortes Jr., not Aaron Boone and not Athletics manager Bob Melvin, who was tossed after Little’s third questionable (at best) call at third in just the first three innings of the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the A’s at Oakland Coliseum.
Little made a balk call on Cortes that allowed the A’s to score their second run in the bottom of the second inning. Both Cortes and first baseman Anthony Rizzo disagreed with the call.
“At first, I didn’t know what I did,’’ said the lefty Cortes. “I usually hang up [my leg] and try to read the runner. I was very surprised the third base umpire made the call.”
He even got into a heated discussion with home plate umpire Tony Randazzo on his way off the field after the inning.
Things got worse for Little in the bottom of the third.
Starling Marte led off and reached second on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Rougned Odor. Marte then attempted to steal third and appeared to be out on the throw from Gary Sanchez. Little, however, called Marte safe and the Yankees couldn’t challenge the call because they had already used their challenge in the bottom of the second, when Oakland’s Chad Pinder beat Aaron Judge’s throw to second base for a double.
That left Boone even more upset by the apparent blown call.
But Little wasn’t finished.
Yan Gomes hit a liner to DJ LeMahieu, who was shifted to the left side of second. LeMahieu threw to third to double off Marte. Odor was off the bag at third, meaning Marte should have been safe, but Little called him out and replay upheld the call for the third out of the inning.
Melvin was ejected for arguing the call following the replay ruling.
“I wanted to talk to the replay crew, but they wouldn’t let me do that,’’ Melvin said.
Boone said Yankees instant replay coordinator Brett Weber told him that the play looked “weird” and there might not be enough video evidence to overturn the call — which turned out to be the case.
Cortes could be seen laughing following the play, and later was seen laughing on another blown call by Little.
“I was just frustrated with what was going on the first few innings,’’ the lefty said of his reaction. “I feel like he had a rough first few innings at third base.”