When is a three-run homer not a three-run homer? Apparently, when Angel Hernandez decides at the last second to grant your wish.
Hernandez, long maligned as one of baseball’s worst umpires, called time out in the middle of Ralph Garza Jr. throwing a pitch in the seventh inning of Saturday’s Yankees-Twins game – one that batter Rougned Odor immediately launched over the right-center field fence for what could’ve been a three-run home run.
You can see at the very beginning of the clip that Odor put his hand up to request time, but Garza was in the midst of his delivery when Hernandez called time and quickly dipped out of frame.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone came out to argue, but quickly went back to the dugout when it appeared Hernandez told him Odor called time.
"I saw Angel run out and call time, then Rougie homered, so I went out to get clarification," Boone said after the game. "Rougie had asked for time and sometimes you don't get it, so good on Rougie for staying in there and being ready. It’s tough for a hitter, no doubt. Good job by him of hanging in there."
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Even worse for the Yankees? Odor struck out looking on the next pitch, on a call we’ll call “generous,” and Odor gave him an earful:
Luke Voit flied out to keep the Yankees off the board in the inning, and Jorge Polanco hit a solo in the next half-inning, so what could’ve been a 9-0 lead was soon down to 6-1.
"I don’t think I've ever seen that before, certainly not a three-run homer," Boone said. "Those are precious as a hitter. That’s a bummer, but there’s really nothing you can do."
The Yankees ended up winning 7-1 (Andrew Velazquez hit a solo homer in the eighth), but perhaps the only group more upset over the result were those who had the over on the game - a number that was 8.5, and would've been hit had Odor's homer counted (instead, the under hit thanks to the eight-run final total).
But, hey, Angel Hernandez got another headline, this one much different than earlier in the series when he was lauded a hero for giving a ball to a fan who was hit by a Giancarlo Stanton homer.
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