rewrite this title Jose Caballero’s late ejection puts Yankees in awkward spot

TAMPA — José Caballero was ejected in the top of the 10th inning of the Yankees’ 6-4 win over the Rays on Thursday night for arguing with second base umpire Roberto Ortiz, which forced Aaron Boone to use Giancarlo Stanton in right field in the bottom of the frame.

Shortly before the incident, Caballero thought he had already gotten second base on a balk when Pete Fairbanks threw over to first a third time, but the umpires got together and determined that the Rays reliever was not on the rubber for the third disengagement, so they sent Caballero back to first.

The utilityman then tried stealing second, but was thrown out after coming off the bag for a split second, with the call standing after the Yankees challenged it.

Caballero was starting to walk off the field when Ortiz tossed him, at which point he turned fiery and got his money’s worth.

“I was like, ‘There’s no way you could see that I came off the bag in motion. How can you see that in real time?’” Caballero said. “I was just frustrated, because it’s like a tenth of a second I came off the bag. You can see it on camera. There’s no way you can see it in play. Obviously I said it multiple times and he didn’t like it.”

Boone said Caballero getting ejected in that situation “can’t happen,” as it forced Stanton to play the field instead of the Yankees having their best defensive unit.

“Cabby and I have already talked about it,” Boone said. “Not to say a player can’t ever get kicked out of a game, but in that situation when we’re up runs and we got our defense out on the field, you got to turn away and let me handle that.”