“Pitch clock is the dumbest thing”; “Batters not even on the field” - Yankees fans annoyed as Gerrit Cole gets violation during warmup

Right-handed pitcher Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees played their first regular season game after the All-Star break on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Bronx Bombers posted a 6-1 victory against the Rays at Yankee Stadium.

Cole had a solid outing since returning from the injured list due to right elbow inflammation on June 20. However, after throwing a scoreless first inning, he was almost ejected at the start of the second inning.

Home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott penalized Gerrit Cole with a pitch-clock violation for taking too long to warm up. Cole had a brief heated exchange with Wolcott before manager Aaron Boone stepped in.

Several fans discussed the umpire’s call and shared their reactions on Instagram.

“And he just finished his warmups, these umps love the damn center of attention,” a fan said.

“The pitch clock is the dumbest thing to happen to baseball since Manfred became commissioner,” another fan said.

“Saved so much time there. Not like anymore time was wasted arguing over it or anything like that,” another fan wrote.

Many other fans continued to react with some criticizing the ump’s call, citing there was no batter at the time.

“Batters not even on the field yet but cole gets the violation?” a comment reads.

“How can he call that the batter wasn’t even in the box?” another comment reads.

“The ump show… before the inning even starts😂,” someone wrote.

Instagram comments of Talkin baseball and Jomboy media post

The Yankees pitching staff allowed one run on seven hits while striking out 12 batters.

Gerrit Cole discusses the incident with the Home plate umpire over the pitch-clock violation

Gerrit Cole pitched for six innings allowing just one earned run on six hits, and one walk while striking out eight. Discussing the incident with Home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott in the second inning, Cole said (via AP News):

“To be honest, I don’t really think I gave him a chance to talk. I didn’t agree with it and I did lose my composure and quite frankly I thought Quinn didn’t and I’m thankful he kept me in the game.”

Cole threw 103 pitches with 70 of them being strikes. The Yankees (59-40) ranked second in the AL East will face the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday in the second game of their series.