Yankees React To Josh Donaldson’s Game 1 Baserunning Blunder

Josh Donaldson thought he was about to enjoy a leisurely jaunt around the bases in the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s Guardians-Yankees game in the Bronx.

But the next thing the New York third baseman knew, he was tagged out and forced to head back to the dugout.

With Game 1 of the Guardians-Yankees American League Division Series deadlocked at 1-1, Donaldson lifted a lazy fly ball toward the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium. As New York fans celebrated, Donaldson went into his home trot under the impression that he had put the baseball in the seats. However, the ball actually bounced off the top of the wall and Cleveland was able to quickly work it back to the infield and tag a confused Donaldson out at first base.

The gaffe ultimately didn’t cost the Yankees, who went on to secure a 4-1 lead and in turn take an early lead in the best-of-five series. As such, Aaron Judge’s take on the bizarre play after the game was on the side of light-hearted.

“I’m standing on the railing, and I’m thinking it’s gone,” Judge told reporters, per MLB.com “I think everybody in the building thought it was gone. But the way it bounced off that wall, we saw it hit the top like that and not continue over. (I wondered) if a fan hit (the ball). Yankee fans are good athletes. I expected somebody to make a catch on it out there.”

New York manager Aaron Boone, meanwhile, was more critical of Donaldson.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a unique one down that line,” Boone told reporters. “You’re kind of body-languaging it. I haven’t even seen the play yet because I was getting out of the way of some people to see where (it went), because I thought it was a home run off the bat. So I have to look at it a little bit better. If (Donaldson) is getting it right away, it is an automatic double. … So we have to make sure we’re getting where we need to get to. So I’m glad it didn’t end up hurting us.”

Donaldson and the Yankees will be able to enjoy a day off before they try to take a commanding 2-0 lead on the Guardians. Game 2 is slated for Thursday night with first pitch scheduled at 7:37 p.m. ET.