Aaron Boone has one regret about his pitching choices during Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night. It’s not the one Yankees fans might expect.
After reflecting on the 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 innings, the Yankees manager said before Game 2 on Saturday that he would still have put Nestor Cortes into a tough spot with one out in the 10th inning, even though Cortes hadn’t pitched since Sept. 18.
Unfortunately, Cortes allowed a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in his first game back after more than a month. What Boone would change is that he wishes he had kept Luke Weaver in the game longer.
“I have no problem with Nestor. Even after the fact, I feel like that was the right move with one out,” Boone said. “The biggest thing is, do I send (Weaver) back out there for the third up? That’s the one that I quibble.”
Weaver, who has been the Yankees’ best relief pitcher during the postseason, retired all five batters he faced in 1 2/3 innings. He came in with one out in the eighth inning and Shohei Ohtani on third base. Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly brought in Ohtani to tie the game at 2.
Jake Cousins replaced Weaver in the 10th. Cousins managed to get Will Smith to fly out but then walked Gavin Lux and allowed an infield single to Tommy Edman. That’s when Boone decided to bring in Cortes.
Weaver threw 19 pitches. If he had faced a couple more batters, he likely would not have been able to pitch again until the Series moved to New York for Game 3 on Monday.
“He’s pitch efficient, but obviously asking him to get eight outs, that’s a little bit of a different animal than even he’s gone through this postseason,” Boone said.
Had there been two outs when Cousins got into trouble, Boone said he would have chosen Tim Hill. But with one out, Boone decided to go with Cortes because Hill tends to give up hits since he pitches to contact.
Boone also mentioned that Ohtani’s success against sliders, which is Hill’s main pitch, played a role in his decision to use Cortes. Cortes managed to retire Ohtani and intentionally walked Betts before Freeman hit the grand slam.
Boone faced criticism for taking out starter Gerrit Cole after 88 pitches. Cole had only allowed one run on four hits and struck out four in six-plus innings.
Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who is working his second World Series for Fox, criticized his former teammate’s choice.
Jeter said on Fox’s postgame show Friday night: “He was dominating the game. And if you take him out after 88 pitches for I don’t know what reason, it’s a domino effect on not only this game, but tomorrow’s game and the rest of the series.
I just think when you have someone who’s dealing like Gerrit Cole was dealing tonight, you leave him out there as long as you can.”
Boone explained that the long sequence of at-bats during the last six hitters Cole faced is why he decided to pull him.
“You just have to take my word for it,” Boone said about why he felt Cole was finished. Boone stated he still has confidence in Cortes for the rest of the series.
“He’s good. We connected last night. He wants the ball again,” Boone said.
