Yankees Jose Caballero calls for clarification of pitch clock rules after spicy umpire quibble

TORONTO — Over the course of nine innings Sunday, José Caballero played second base, third base and left field, got into his almost-daily argument with the home plate umpire over his usage of the pitch clock, and then capped it all off by crushing a 420-foot home run.“We got the full experience today,” manager Aaron Boone said with a chuckle after the Yankees’ 8-3 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.“He got the right level of ticked off to really lock him in there.” Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

And while Caballero’s day ended on a high note with the three-run homer in the ninth inning that gave the Yankees some breathing room — which he clearly enjoyed with a slow trot around the bases — his latest spat with the umpires was not a laughing matter.With the game tied in the sixth inning, Caballero began arguing with home plate umpire Steve Jaschinski before Spencer Miles could even throw him a pitch.The root of the issue, as it normally is with Caballero, is how he uses the timing rules to his advantage — purposely not looking up at the pitcher until there are eight seconds left on the clock, which is the cutoff time for engagement.

Pitchers cannot come set until the hitter has acknowledged them.But Caballero said Jaschinski told him that “if I looked down, he was going to call a strike on me.”“They’ve been changing the rules without any warnings ahead [of time],” Caballero said.“I don’t know why they’re doing that.

The rules are the rules.Nobody wanted the rules.

They invented the rules.They should take care of it.

I’m just trying to play with the new system that they got us playing in, it’s not like I invented the rules.”After Caballero’s extended conversation with Jaschinski — which eventually included crew chief John Tumpane and Boone and got heated at times — Tumpane announced that Caballero rece...