Aaron Boone explodes after Yankees' rally ended by absurd Juan Soto double play call

The Yankees entered Wednesday night's game against the Angels in need of a spark after Anthony Rizzo fell flat on his face, followed by a Clay Holmes sinker falling even flatter on Tuesday. A two-game losing streak is no big deal, even with the late theatrics involved. But a three-gamer? Out west? Against an Angels team playing uninspired baseball in May? That'd get the people talking.

Luckily -- phew! -- Anthony Volpe ignited the Bombers against All-Star-caliber lefty Tyler Anderson in the top of the first by extending his hitting streak to 21 games. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge followed with walks to load the bases, and the only thing the Yankees absolutely, positively, could not do here was not sco -- oh. Naturally.

You're not going to believe how it happened, though.

Giancarlo Stanton, reverting back into "afraid of success" mode, took a mighty hack at the very first slow breaker following the pair of walks and popped it up on the infield; the "blast" was rightly called an infield fly. As Soto walked back to the base, he made contact with Angels infielder Zach Neto, who reacted like he'd been shot and fumbled the ball to Mars. This resulted in the umpire calling an interference-fueled double play, similar to the unprecedented gift the Orioles got last week.

While it might, theoretically, be nice if Aaron Boone got ejected from fewer games, we say with all due respect ... how is he supposed to keep his composure about plays like this?

Yankees lose rally on patently absurd Juan Soto interference call vs Angels

Was Soto supposed to not get back to the back? Was he supposed to be willingly doubled off on a looper to short? Can't wait to hear the highly educated Yankee Haters' explanations for why both Soto and Boone were in the wrong here. Surely, they'll be measured and well-plotted.

Anyway, you won't believe what happened next! Alex Verdugo grounded out, and the Yankees didn't score.

Sure, it's late May. Sure, the bounces don't always go your way. But what an awful time for the Baseball Gods to deliver Yankee fans something they've never encountered before, snuffing out a much-needed rally in the manner cosmically designed to extinguish their momentum the quickest.

And, naturally, Orioles fans have benefitted from this call twice in a week. Just ... peaches.