Jays' Jackson says he was tipping pitches vs. Judge, Yankees
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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jay Jackson told The Athletic that he was tipping his pitches Monday night, leading to a controversy with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge looking towards his dugout before each pitch.
The Blue Jays appeared to accuse Judge of looking over to steal signs after Monday's game – a 7-4 Yankees win – with Judge hitting his second home run of the game in the controversial at-bat.
"From what I was told, I was kind of tipping the pitch," said Jackson, who was optioned to Triple-A on Tuesday. "It was [less] my grip when I was coming behind my ear. It was the time it was taking me from my set position, from my glove coming from my head to my hip. On fastballs, I was kind of doing it quicker than on sliders. They were kind of picking up on it."
Jackson threw six straight sliders to Judge, who hit the final one for a 462-foot home run on a 3-2 count.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider was curious postgame as to why Judge would be looking into the dugout at that point and time.
“Kinda odd a hitter would be looking in that direction,” Schneider told the media after the game. "I’m not the calibre of hitter Aaron Judge is and never was, but he’s obviously looking somewhere besides the pitcher for a reason at that point in time in his at-bat."
Judge, who has 11 home runs this season after hitting 62 a year ago, was not happy about the accusations of sign stealing when asked about it.
"I've got some choice words about that, but I'm just going to keep that off the record," Judge said prior to New York's 6-3 win on Tuesday in which he homered again.
The bad blood continued between the two teams Tuesday night with both sides exchanging in a war of words over base-coach positioning. Yankees pitcher Domingo German was also ejected in the fourth-inning after an inspection of his throwing hand.
"[Pitching coach] Pete [Walker] was probably — more playfully than anything — saying 'I'm watching you,'" Schneider said of a lively exchange between his dugout and Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas. "You probably all heard that. But Rojas kind of took exception to it.
"It's two competitive teams. You're not pleased with the way everything has shaken out the last 24 hours. I think it's just people being competitive."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was hoping to leave the controversies behind with two games remaining in the series.
"It’s silliness, it’s ridiculous," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "And I think everyone, I hope on both sides, realizes it."