The Yankees have had games in 2020 delayed by drones, outside air horns, fans going crazy, umpire injuries…and now, an ineligible player?
Indeed, the Yankees added left-hander Tyler Lyons to their active roster late Tuesday afternoon, but when Aaron Boone called upon him to pitch the eighth inning, the umpires huddled, and immediately ushered Lyons off the mound – because he wasn’t “supposed” to be there.
“Yeah, his name was not on the scorecard,” Boone said after the game. “In these new rules, we don’t exchange at home plate, so I don’t know if it was an issue of the transaction not going through by the time our card went through or what, but he’s on my card.”
The Yankees’ transaction to option Michael King and add Lyons was announced shortly before 5 p.m. – well before the 6:37 p.m. first pitch in Buffalo – but apparently, someone was slow to the punch on the ground level.
“I know the transaction went through little bit late, but we’ll do some more digging to get to the bottom of it, and make sure that doesn’t happen, obviously,” Boone said. “We’ll try and make sure we’re airtight on that moving forward.”
This wasn’t the first time the Blue Jays had seen this, though: back in early August, they were forced to go without just-recalled pitcher Jacob Waguespack, as a similar situation found him ineligible to pitch in a game because he wasn’t in the cards.
All was well that ended well for the Yankees, though, as Lyons replacement Zack Britton pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, and Adam Ottavino pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to cement a 12-1 Yankees win that cut their magic number to clinch a Top 6 seed in the AL to two – meaning that a win in either of the final two games of their series against the Blue Jays will clinch at least second place in the AL East.
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