The ninth inning of the New York Yankees‘ 8-4 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday night was delayed after umpires confiscated a bat used by Astros outfielder Taylor Trammell.
After Trammell doubled, Yankees manager Aaron Boone asked officials to check his bat. Both managers talked to plate umpire Adrian Johnson, and he then talked to the replay office in New York. Johnson eventually handed the bat to an official sitting near home plate and play resumed.
“It was just something that we noticed this series and asked the league about,” Boone told reporters after the game. “You’re not allowed to do anything to your bat. I’m not saying he was. I just … we noticed and the league thought it maybe was illegal too.
“The discoloration was on the label, like. I don’t know if it was just natural or if it was sand … I don’t know. I don’t want to accuse Taylor. I’m not saying anything untoward or whatever.”
Trammell said he was told the Yankees thought his bat “was shaved down too much.”
“To be honest, I have no idea how you shave down a bat. I don’t know what it is,” Trammell told reporters in a postgame interview. “My biggest problem is, I feel kind of defensive right now, more so [it is] testing my character of, like, I’m going to willingly do that. I’m kind of lost on that thing. I think if anybody knows me, knows that I’m never going to cheat any turns or anything like that. I have no idea. That’s baffling to me that it was even checked. They didn’t like it. Sorry.”
Trammell, who pinch hit for Mauricio Dubon in the seventh inning and remained in the game, called it “surprising” that the Yankees, who he played five games for last season, would ask for a review of his equipment.
“My time over there, I had a lot of respect for Boonie. He was straight-up with me,” Trammell said. “In that situation, I really don’t understand it. I don’t understand it.”
