Insane Yankees-Royals sequence sees ump hose Aaron Judge, Pablo Reyes win fans over

In the top of the eighth inning of a 0-0 game (after a rain delay interrupted the action), Aaron Boone called on superstar slugger Aaron Judge to pinch hit after Pablo Reyes notched a leadoff single. Judge got a day off for the first time this year even though he tried his best to sway his manager.

Going up against arguably the Royals' best reliever in Lucas Erceg, Judge worked a full count. He dodged a bullet the pitch before after Erceg barely missed low and inside with his signature changeup. Judge had gotten even luckier because tried to call timeout and it wasn't granted. Even if he wanted to swing, he wouldn't have made contract.

Whatever the case, the precedent was established. Home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez was not giving that part of the zone to Erceg.

Until he was! One pitch later. Erceg threw the exact same pitch on a full count and Marquez called it a strike. Judge went down looking in what was an impossible situation for the slugger. If Marquez called that a ball the first time, Judge knew not to swing if Erceg was coming back with it. He made the right decision, and the inconsistent call cost him.

Had it been called a strike the first time, there's no doubt some fans still would've complained, but most people watching knew that was a borderline call. With a pitch that close, you simply have to swing. But you definitely don't if the ump already makes the decision for you.

Ump hoses Aaron Judge during Yankees-Royals, but Pablo Reyes plays hero

After that, Trent Grisham grounded out and Ben Rice walked, putting Reyes in scoring position with Paul Goldschmidt coming to the plate. The 2022 MVP has been an absolute monster with RISP this season, and he delivered yet again.

Goldy ripped a liner right at Vinnie Pasquantino, who gave a full-extension vertical effort to try and haul it in, but it bounced off his glove and trickled just off the infield dirt. Reyes was digging around second and went to make his way home, but he wasn't paying attention to third base coach Luis Rojas, who was giving him the green light. Reyes was caught watching the play and stumbled. He nearly fell to the ground as he was stuck in between third and home.

But Pasquantino threw the ball to first, which bought Reyes an extra couple seconds. He then made the decision to bolt for home plate, and Erceg got caught double clutching. He bounced the throw to Freddy Fermin and Reyes slid head-first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. What a sequence.

That's all they would need, too. Devin Williams shut the door in the ninth with a dominant save. The Yankees completed the sweep in Kansas City with a punt lineup (Judge, DJ LeMahieu, Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm did not play).

That gave Reyes an opportunity after he's gotten so few this year and hadn't really delivered. Fans have been getting frustrated with him essentially wasting a roster spot with depth being such a glaring need for the Yanks. But on Thursday, Reyes made a sterling defensive play in the bottom of the seventh inning to prevent an infield single (which came right after Anthony Volpe made one of the best defensive plays of his career) and went 1-for-3 with the only run scored in the game.

If Boone really wants to play more mind games with the Red Sox, he'll figure out a way to sneak what could be a revived Reyes into this weekend's Fenway Series to give him a chance to get back at his former team.