The New York Yankees had quite an eventful series against the Houston Astros. While New York won two of three games in Houston, there was drama at every turn. Manager Aaron Boone was ejected along with reliever Devin Williams for arguing balls and strikes. The Yankees believed that home-plate umpire Brian Walsh was squeezing them, leading to an 8-7 Astros win Wednesday.
Walsh rotated to third base for the following game and again found himself in the middle of controversy. He ruled that third baseman Ryan McMahon didn't catch the ball in the series finale. Boone was adamant that McMahon caught the ball on the fly and lost it on the transfer.
Aaron Boone was told by MLB that this Ryan McMahon play should’ve been ruled a catch, per @martinonyc pic.twitter.com/wFwh1g5Nja
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 5, 2025
On Friday, MLB told the Yankees that McMahon had, in fact, made the catch and that the play was incorrectly called, per SNY’s Andy Martino.
Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon vindicated by MLB
The play in question took place in the bottom of the sixth inning on Thursday. Jose Altuve hit a soft liner to third that McMahon charged and snared just before the flare hit the ground. But while attempting to transfer from his glove, he lost control and dropped the ball.
Walsh ruled it no-catch, making it McMahon’s ninth of the season, and the Astros had runners at first and second with no outs. Houston managed to score on a throwing error by second baseman Jose Caballero, but New York held on to win 8-4. However, the play was particularly upsetting to Boone – and Yankees fans – coming in the wake of Walsh’s awful performance Wednesday.
The second-year ump appeared to favor the Astros when he was behind the plate. And the details of his outing made it clear that New York wasn’t imagining things. Walsh’s calls favored Houston by +1.4 runs, per Umpire Scorecards. Considering the Yankees lost 8-7, those calls had a major impact.
Walsh then furthered the anti-Yankees argument by blowing the call on McMahon’s catch. The league has now acknowledged the ruling was wrong. But it’s a small victory for Boone.
New York’s manager started the series against the Astros with a gripe. Boone blasted MLB for its scheduling as the team had to travel from Houston to Toronto without a day off. He then got ejected for pointing out Walsh’s mistakes behind the plate and was forced to accept an E5 ruling on an obvious catch.
And on top of all that, Boone had Taylor Trammell’s bat investigated. The Yankees thought the outfielder’s bat looked suspicious and asked the umpires to examine it. Perhaps he’ll get another call from MLB soon.
