Pitchers Michael Kay and John Flaherty were surprised by the comments about their awkward exchange on Friday's YES Network broadcast, but were referring to the exchange that took place in the bottom of the first inning of Saturday's Yankees-Cubs game, which the Yankees won 2-0.
The night before, as the teams opened their weekend series, Flaherty appeared to criticize Kay for being quiet on the team bus to Wrigley Field, even though the former catcher had “plenty of time to think about it,” and the exchange escalated from there, with Kay saying Flaherty prefers working with Ryan Ruocco on the YES broadcast, to which Flaherty responded, “You wouldn't want to work on the road.”
There was about 14 seconds of silence after Gleyber Torres' grounder, with Kaye promising to be “very chatty” on Saturday and Flaherty saying he just wanted to make sure his broadcast partner was OK.
“We love each other,” Flaherty said during a conversation with Kaye and clubhouse reporter Meredith Maracowitz in the top of the first inning Saturday. “We love each other.”
Kaye first brought up Friday's exchange, joking that Marakovits was planning on sitting between them because “from what we read, we really hate each other.”
“I just want to make sure we're OK because I felt like we were getting along like normal yesterday,” Flaherty said. “But then after the game I heard we all hated each other. Is everything OK?”
In a follow-up conversation, Mr. Malachowicz said there was a lot of chatter in the Yankees clubhouse and people wanted to know if the awkward exchanges were real, which surprised Mr. Kaye and Mr. Flaherty, who said it “happens all the time.”
“I love you,” Kay said. “We're the best.”
“Well, I don't know if I'm going to love you, but I really do love you,” Flaherty jokingly responded, before Kaye said she'll probably be “written about this again” after the line.
With Kay and Flaherty at the helm on Saturday, Clark Schmidt and Nestor Cortes, both returning from the disabled list, combined for four hits to help the Yankees keep the Cubs from scoring for the second straight game.
The Yankees and Cubs are scheduled to finish off a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Sunday, with ace Gerrit Cole set to face former Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon.
