TAMPA, Fla. — A zero showed under the hit column as New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried took the mound in the penultimate inning against the Tampa Bay Rays. But before Fried threw a pitch to right fielder Jake Mangum to begin the eighth, the Rays were credited with a hit, and Fried’s no-hit bid was over.

Rays official scorer Bill Mathews announced over the press box intercom that he decided to award center fielder Chandler Simpson an infield single in the sixth inning because it was “very apparent” Simpson would have beaten out a potential throw. Simpson hit a grounder to Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who was playing off the bag, but the ball caromed off Goldschmidt’s glove, allowing the speedy rookie to reach first base. Mathews initially ruled the play an error, extending Fried’s no-hitter.

On first glance, Simpson could have reached first base if Goldschmidt had fielded the ball cleanly. Simpson is the fastest player in the sport, and it would have been challenging for Fried to beat him to first base. However, there was a similar play in the third inning that did not end with Simpson on base. Simpson hit a grounder to Goldschmidt, and Fried sprinted to first base to field the toss for a 3-1 putout.

Mathews gave a terse explanation for why he changed his scoring two innings later.

“I made a decision,” Mathews told The Athletic.

He took no further questions, stared blankly ahead and remained silent.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone did not know about the overturned call when Mangum hit a single off Fried to begin the eighth inning. Boone thought that was the official ending to Fried’s no-hitter, as did Fried himself. It wasn’t until Fried walked off the mound after 7 2/3 innings — during which he allowed no runs and lowered his season ERA to 1.42 — that he looked up at the scoreboard and realized he had allowed two hits instead of one.

In Boone’s opinion, the official scorer changing Goldschmidt’s error to a Simpson hit was the correct call.

“We’re not going to beat him to the bag, so I get it,” Boone said. “It makes it a little bit dicey within the game when there’s a no-hitter going on. The reality is, it was a hit.”

In the official scorer’s estimation, it was “very apparent” Chandler Simpson would have beaten this out if Paul Goldschmidt had handled it cleanly, so it is now a hit. pic.twitter.com/rgAqgdL4Fr

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) April 20, 2025

Because he remained mum, it is unclear why Mathews needed two innings to overturn a ruling he deemed a very apparent call. In Saturday’s game, Mathews gave Jose Caballero a base hit in the ninth inning on a ground ball he hit to Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera. Replay angles showed that if Cabrera had made a clean throw, Caballero would have been out. Yet, Mathews awarded Caballero a hit after Cabrera’s throw sailed over Goldschmidt’s head.

“I scratch my head at official scorers nightly,” Boone said. “They throw an error at Yankee Stadium up on the board, and then we go to these other places and they can fire up a hit with the best of them. It’s a different game in every other park. It really is. There are times I get involved in the year, like, ‘What are we doing?’ (Scorekeeping) is probably a very thankless job, but a hard job with a lot on the line. I certainly respect that. There are issues I have from time to time where some places are hit-friendly, and other places it’s not.”

Before the scoring change became official in the bottom of the eighth, home plate umpire Adam Beck ejected Boone in the top of the inning. Beck and third base umpire Scott Barry missed an Aaron Judge home run that they called a foul ball. Replay appeared to show Judge’s ball was several feet fair, but the Yankees lost the challenge when the league’s replay office ruled that they did not have enough conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the field.

“The audacity of the call standing is remarkable,” Boone said after the Yankees’ 4-0 win. “It’s a home run. It didn’t go our way, though.”

“Yeah, it was a fair ball,” Judge said. “That’s why we have replay. It’s tough in a situation like this at a minor league park. The foul poles aren’t as high. That’s why we have replay. They have every angle. It was a fair ball.”

How is this ball foul lmao pic.twitter.com/u5QNmJGe1O

— Dillard Barnhart (@BarnHasSpoken2) April 20, 2025

The umpires and replay missing the call did not affect the game’s outcome, but that is one additional home run Judge should have on his record. If the officials had called it a home run, Judge would have been tied for second with eight home runs on the season, one behind MLB’s leader, Athletics first baseman Tyler Soderstrom, who has nine.

It was a bizarre four-game series between the Yankees and Rays, led by the two American League East rivals playing at George M. Steinbrenner Field, New York’s spring training facility. The Rays are calling Steinbrenner Field their 2025 home after Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field in October. With Tampa technically being the home team and having full access, the Yankees were unable to use any of the facilities they normally would during spring training.

(Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)