“I want to get ejected less. But I’ll still get ejected.” When the MLB community thought introducing the Automated Ball Strike Challenge would curtail managerial ejections, Aaron Boone believed himself to be the exception. With the 50th ejection of his career under his belt on Friday, it appears the New York Yankees’ manager was right.

Facing the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, the Yankees went down 3-1. The Yankees had an eventful sixth inning during the series opener. They secured a brief 1-0 lead after scoring first at the top of the sixth. But after two outs, home plate umpire Vic Carapazza tossed Boone in the same frame for arguing a strike call. Following the ejection, Boone exited the dugout and eventually got into a heated argument with Carapazza before leaving the field. Talkin’ Yanks posted the series of events that led to Boone’s ejection on X.

“Aaron Boone gets ejected for arguing balls and strikes,” Talkin’ Yanks wrote in the caption.

After Trent Grisham homered, batting leadoff in the top of the sixth, Shane Bieber quickly retired Ben Rice and Spencer Jones. Then it was Luis Garcia Jr.’s turn at the plate. The Yankees acquired Garcia from the Washington Nationals on August 3.

During his at-bat, the umpires ruled a pitch as a strike that appeared low. Boone did not agree with the call, and he made his feelings known from the dugout. Though it was unclear exactly what Boone said, the broadcast cameras caught Carapazza yelling:

“What’d you say? I couldn’t hear you. What’d you say?”

Boone calmly replied, “I think it was down.”

Turned out that was enough for Carapazza to eject Boone from the game. Following the ejection, the Yankees’ skipper did not hold back anymore. He jogged straight to the field, starting an argument with the umpire. After a short, heated exchange, Boone left the field. After that, the Yankees could not build up on the lead.

After getting ejected for the fourth time in this season, Boone watched the rest of Friday night’s game on TV. Bench coach Brad Ausmus acted as the Yankees’ manager for the remainder of the game.

Following the loss, Boone spoke to the reporters.

“I actually watched the replay, and I just said, ‘It’s low,’” Boone said, per MLB.com. “Those things happen, and at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to score.”

The Yankees’ skipper has a history of losing his cool and getting ejected. Last month, Boone got ejected while trying to challenge a double play against the Tampa Bay Rays. After Jose Caballero was thrown out while attempting to steal second, the Yankees wanted to challenge the call, but the home plate umpire ruled that they were too late to challenge. Bench coach Brad Ausmus was the first one to get tossed. A frustrated Boone did not notice and went to argue with the umpires on the field. It earned him the third ejection of this season, which Boone later regretted.

On Friday, after defeating the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays improved to 60-64. Being only one game behind the final AL Wild Card Spot, they are making a strong postseason push. However, Toronto owes its latest win to an on-field defensive blunder to some degree as well.

Yankees’ defensive blunder helps Blue Jays

On Friday, Shane Bieber and Gerrit Cole squared off at Rogers Center and kept the game scoreless until the fifth inning. The Yankees struck first with Trent Grisham’s solo shot in the top of the sixth. That was the only scoring play for the Yankees.

At the bottom of the same frame, the Blue Jays also opened their scoreboard. However, a throwing error from the Yankees’ defense opened the door for the game-tying run.

With one out and two runners on base, George Springer hit a grounder Ryan McMahon. The third baseman recorded the first out, but his throw to Luis Garcia Jr. at first went wrong. The throw took his gloves off as he tried to grab the ball. Garcia tried to throw out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at third, but no one was there to cover his throw into left field. Despite a collision between Guerrero and George Lombard Jr. at third, the Blue Jays star scored the run.

In the next at-bat, Alejandro Kirk launched an RBI double for the go-ahead run. Kirk also hit a homer in the eighth inning to take the game away, 3-1.