Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning of the Minnesota Twins' Tuesday night clash against the New York Yankees, the Twins found themselves down 7-1. This lead seemed insurmountable, but crazier comebacks have happened in MLB in the past. And for a second, it looked as though Emmanuel Rodriguez, the Twins' leadoff batter for the inning, had homered to cut their deficit to just five runs, 7-2.
In a bang-bang call by the umpire, they initially ruled Rodriguez's deep ball towards the right field bleachers a fair ball. But the Yankees decided to challenge the play, and after the review, they deemed that Rodriguez had hit the ball towards the wrong side of the foul pole. The Twins center fielder had to return to home plate as a result, with the count still at 1-2.
This infuriated Twins manager Derek Shelton; Shelton protested vociferously with the home plate umpire, and he received an ejection for his troubles.
Article Continues BelowTwins manager Derek Shelton got ejected after he was pissed that the third base umpire overruled a home run to a foul ball pic.twitter.com/VSIz8LKYrY
â Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 16, 2026
Considering that every run matters in the context of the ballgame, it's understandable why the Twins manager would be upset that the call didn't go their way. They needed every bit of help they can get with their offense sputtering on the night, and seeing would have been a home run get snatched away must have been devastating.
Rodriguez proceeded to line out to right field instead after his deep drive to right field earlier in the at-bat was ruled a foul ball, and this stopped a potential Twins rally in its tracks. Even though Luke Keaschall reached base with two outs in the inning, Ryan Kreidler flew out to end the inning with Minnesota still having scored just one run on the night.
They would not fare much better on offense in the ninth, as they went down in order to give the Yankees their 88th win of the season in 151 contests. Meanwhile, the Twins fell to 70-81 on the season, and it seems like it's only a matter of time before they become officially eliminated from postseason contention.

