Buster Olney denies report that ESPN pressured Yankees to keep rain delay going for Aaron Judge's home run chase

Baseball fans who stayed up extra late on Sunday night in hopes of seeing New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge get one last crack at hitting his 61st home run of the season were left disappointed, as the contest against the Boston Red Sox was called after six innings, resulting in a 2-0 New York victory. If the game had resumed, the action would've restarted at the beginning of the top of the seventh inning, before Judge was scheduled to lead off the bottom of the seventh frame.

The rain delay lasted 98 minutes before officials made the call. According to a report by NJ.com's Brendan Kuty, the halt in play lasted that long after ESPN executives pushed the Yankees and MLB to keep the delay running in hopes of getting Judge one more at-bat.

"ESPN pressured MLB officials to wait out an already long and particularly nasty rain delay between the Yankees and Red Sox at Yankee Stadium because the network was desperate to air Judge getting at least one more at-bat in his chase of 61 home runs, a person with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly," Kuty wrote. "Throughout the delay, the Yankees and the Red Sox each lobbied the league to declare the game over as the forecast kept getting worse, the person said. But ESPN kept the pressure on."

Kuty further reported that when the rain delay extended past the usual 90 minutes on "getaway days" -- New York started a series in Toronto on Monday and Boston started a home set against the Baltimore Orioles -- Yankees manager Aaron Boone became "increasingly worried" that if the game were to resume, players could get hurt.

"So, behind closed doors, Boone made it known that he was considering all options to keep his players safe -- and that included the possibility of pulling Judge out of the game despite the fact he was the first batter to hit as the delay ended, the first person said," Kuty wrote. "And when that particular possibility -- the threat of sitting Judge -- reached league and ESPN executives, they moved quickly to end the delay at 1 hour, 38 minutes and the Yankees were declared 2-0 winners, the person said."

The insider added that the teams had been told that there "was a chance" the game could be restarted around 12:30 a.m. ET. Judge went 1-for-3 with two walks (including an intentional walk in extra innings) and two strikeouts in New York's 3-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Monday.

Longtime ESPN insider Buster Olney has taken to social media and vehemently denied Kuty's report.