Controversy continues to follow the New York Yankees and Houston Astros' series; on Thursday night, the Yankees brought up an issue with MLB regarding Taylor Trammell's bat. While Trammell didn't end up doing much when he came on as a pinch-hitter, going 1-2 on the night, manager Aaron Boone noticed something wrong with the bat that he used, taking it up with the authorities as a result.
After the Yankees secured their 8-4 win over the Astros on Thursday, Boone explained the rationale behind his decision to bring up Trammell's odd-looking bat for investigation. According to Greg Joyce of the New York Post, Boone “noticed some discoloration” on Trammell's bat and notified the umpires after the Yankees had brought up the issue with the league earlier and received feedback that the Astros center fielder's bat, indeed, “looks like an illegal” one.
In professional sports, teams are always looking to find advantages however they can. This makes regulation from the league that important, and the Yankees definitely wanted to rein the Astros in and prevent them from pushing the boundaries of what is allowed.
Nonetheless, it does seem very odd as well that the Yankees only mentioned it to the umpires in the ninth inning, right after Trammell hit a double to left field to continue a potential rally for the Astros. If the Yankees were that concerned about cheating from Trammell's side, then they would have gone out of their way to bring that up the moment he was brought into the game in the seventh.
This only fuels the years-long rivalry the Yankees have had brewing against the Astros; this dates back to all the Aaron Judge versus Jose Altuve MVP debates and the 2017 ALCS where Houston beat New York in a heated seven-game series — the year where Houston was proven to have cheated their way to the World Series.
Yankees bounce back against the Astros
On Wednesday, the Yankees protested an inconsistent strike zone which they felt was their undoing in an 8-7 defeat to the Astros. Last night, the Yankees complained about Trammell's bat. There seems to be a fixation from New York regarding forces beyond their control, but at the very least, they managed to grab a victory to take the series win over the Astros.
New York did get a good start from Carlos Rodon, who allowed just one run in six innings of work, while Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon, the leadoff and nine-hole hitters, respectively, drove in three runs each.
