Benches clear in Yankees-White Sox after Tim Anderson-Josh Donaldson incident

New York Yankees fans sure are glad Josh Donaldson is on their side because this guy has a way about him that agitates the opposition.

It happened against the Toronto Blue Jays when he was jawing with the catcher before getting plunked by Yimi Garcia. Fans have seen him yelling from the dugout and making his presence known after just a month of action. A guy you hate if you’re playing against, but love if he’s on your squad.

More of the same happened on Friday night against the Chicago White Sox early in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and Gerrit Cole recording a strikeout for the second out of the inning, catcher Jose Trevino fired a throw over to third with hopes of catching Tim Anderson taking too big of a lead.

Donaldson snagged the throw and attempted to block the bag to prevent Anderson from getting back safely.

It was a close one, but Anderson was called safe … but not before Donaldson applied what some might call an “aggressive” tag as he appeared to offer a little shove to the White Sox shortstop.

Anderson didn’t like it one bit, shoved Donaldson back, and then the benches and bullpen cleared. The lowest-stakes benches-clearing incident you might ever see.

Yankees’ Josh Donaldson agitated Tim Anderson and the White Sox

And don’t forget! Donaldson has a history with the White Sox having played two seasons with Minnesota in the AL Central. If you recall correctly, Lucas Giolito and Donaldson went after one another last season and then Sox closer Liam Hendriks openly said he disliked his former teammate (the two played together in Oakland).

White Sox Twitter wasn’t happy with the incident either, calling Donaldson “the worst” and providing us with a slow-motion replay of the proceedings

Eh, not really much of anything. Would the Yankees have liked it if Donaldson did it to them? Absolutely not. But still, nothing to clear the benches over … which just goes to show Donaldson is totally in their heads from last year’s shenanigans.

The mental aspect of the game is an important one — and one that the Yankees have lagged behind their opposition for the last few years. So it helps having it in their corner for once, and it’s definitely helped them get out to a quick 5-0 lead in this one … with Donaldson ripping an RBI double an inning later after Giancarlo Stanton got the Yanks on the board in the first.

https://twitter.com/YESNetwork/status/1525270703364362240?s=20&t=kFWxJqFKkg2YZsHHBeEGAQ

That’s Stanton’s third homer in the last 10 innings against the White Sox. Safe to say he’s buying up nice real estate in Chicago, too.

Before you know it he and Donaldson might be moguls in the Windy City.

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