Yankees' Aaron Boone draws boos as taking out Domingo German in ninth backfires
Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes stands on the mound after the Guardians scored two runs to tie the Yankees during the ninth inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
"Eighty-eight pitches! 88 pitches!” the Yankees fan in front of the press box yelled over and over after the final out was made in the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
There were other things yelled, most of them about Aaron Boone and his continued employment as Yankees manager. Sorry, pal, shoulda saved your breath on that one. Boone is not going anywhere, not even after he removed starter Domingo German after, you guessed it, 88 pitches with one out in the ninth inning.
The Yankees’ Aaron Judge-less, pop-gun offense had managed to give German a 2-0 lead. Steven Kwan had just lined a single to centerfield for Cleveland’s second hit — its first since the second batter of the game. And as soon as Kwan’s single hit the turf, Boone was on his way to the mound to a torrent of boos from the crowd of 33,414.
German had been so overpowering that even after he ended up with a no-decision, the righthander (through an interpreter) called the outing “one that I’ll be able to tell my grandkids about.”
Grandpa German probably will end the story before Boone took the ball from him and handed it to Clay Holmes. Before Holmes booted a comebacker for an error, allowed a single to load the bases and allowed a two-run single by Josh Naylor to tie the score at 2.
In came Wandy Peralta. His two-out, bases-loaded walk to Mike Zunino drove in the eventual winning run in one of the Yankees’ worst defeats since . . .
Sunday.
Would you rather lose 15-2, as the Yankees did on Sunday in Arlington, Texas? Or would you rather have your guts ripped out in the ninth inning?
That’s a question the Yankees and their fans got to ponder after the club fell to 15-15. The Yankees have dropped four in a row and eight of 11. They sit in last place in the AL East, 8 ½ games behind the rampaging Rays.
The Yankees will play Tampa Bay for the first time this weekend. They will go to Tropicana Field without Judge, who finally was placed on the 10-day injured list on Monday, five days after suffering a right hip sprain on a slide.
Judge joins 12 of his teammates on the IL. That No. 99 was No. 13 (on the IL) certainly is unlucky for the Yankees, who are trying to head off a free-fall without their captain and best player.
The lineup is without the injured Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Harrison Bader and Josh Donaldson. Bernie Williams, who was in the building, could have been the No. 3 hitter on Monday, even at age 54. Maybe 60-year-old YES announcer Paul O’Neill could have gotten in a few swings, too.
After giving up the lead, the Yankees sent up 3-4-5 — the heart of their order, such as it is — against Grade A Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase.
Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu grounded out. Aaron Hicks, who had come in for defense, swung through a 3-and-2 pitch. Ballgame.
The boos came fast and hard, some for Hicks, others for the way the night had ended in a game that took just 2:06.
It would have taken about 1:40 if Boone had left in German and if German had gotten the final two outs. What was the worst that could have happened if Boone had let German throw pitch No. 89 to former Met Amed Rosario? A tying two-run homer. That’s the worst that could have happened.
“I just thought it was the right decision to do that there,” Boone said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out, so ultimately that falls on me. Domingo was great, but I wasn’t going to let him go around there with the tying runs at the plate.”
You can yell in Boone’s direction all you want, but this is the way the game is played today. Front offices don’t want starters facing hitters three times, let alone four. It’s why Boone had a reliever up in every inning starting with the sixth even though German was cruising.
“That’s a difficult one,” Boone said of the loss.
That’s something the manager and that fan in front of the press box can agree on.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
