Vazquez on almost-strikeout: 'I caught the ball and dropped it on the transfer'

Sep. 27—BOSTON — Aaron Judge may never have given the Yankees the lead with his two-run double if not for a controversial call moments before.

With two men in scoring position and one out, Red Sox reliever Adam Ottavino appeared to strike Judge out after the Yankees slugger foul tipped the ball into catcher Christian Vazquez's mitt. But after making the catch Vazquez dropped the ball as he transferred it from his glove, and home plate umpire Joe West ruled it a foul ball.

Vazquez said afterwards he was at a loss and was surprised the call wasn't reconsidered.

"I caught the ball and dropped it in the transfer. That's the first time that's happened to me so I didn't know how to react," Vazquez said. "I thought they should get together and get a better call."

Vazquez said the ball had been tipped into the top of his glove and he fumbled it trying to collect it from there. Immediately afterwards he said he asked if they could review the play but was told they could not.

It was an unbelievably bad break that immediately proved costly.

Regardless, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said afterwards that the ball was tipped and didn't express unhappiness about the call, and Ottavino said that in the moment it didn't faze him much.

"In the moment I thought it was a strikeout but then I saw the ball come out, so I just thought 'ok we didn't hold on to it so it must be a foul ball, and if not maybe we'll review it,'" Ottavino said. "I don't know if that's reviewable or not so in the moment I was like 'alright it's a foul ball, I've got to make another pitch.'"

The call was especially tough given that earlier in the at bat Bobby Dalbec had also failed to catch a playable pop fly in foul territory. Immediately after Judge's go-ahead double, Giancarlo Stanton hit a towering two-run home run to give New York a 6-3 lead.

Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com. Twitter: @MacCerullo.