Aaron Boone predicts Yankees' Game 1 move flies under the radar

LOS ANGELES – After a day of outside second-guessing, there was a decision Aaron Boone was grappling with.

He couldn’t draw Gerrit Cole after 88 pitches.

happened Not bringing Nestor CortesHe just recovered from a flexor strain that hasn’t allowed him to pitch since Sept. 18 to face the Dodgers’ top hitter.

Instead, Boone allowed some reflection on whether he should have stuck with Luke Weaver longer.

Boone used his best bullpen arm in the eighth inning, with a tying run in the third inning and Weaver recording two outs but allowing a run to score.

He then moved to the Dodgers side in the ninth and struck out 19 in 1²/₃ innings.

“The biggest thing is: Am I going to send Weav up for the third time?” Boone questioned himself after the Dodgers hit lesser relievers.

But asking Weaver to take the mound a third time could have taken him out of Game 2.

Boone grounded Jake Cousins for the final stretch of the Dodgers’ inning, but it didn’t work when Cousins walked Gavin Lux and allowed a single to Tommy Edman.

With one out, he brought in Cortes, who retired Shohei Ohtani.

But after an intentional walk to Mookie Betts to load the bases, Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam.

“Nestor, that’s OK with me,” Boone said of his decision to choose Cortes over Tim Hill.

Boone reasoned that he wanted Cortes with one out in this situation because he wanted a better chance at an inning with two runners on base, the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first.

If there were two outs, he would go with Hill, who would make more contact.

Boone was more evasive about Cole’s decision, saying, “Even after the fact, I think (the Cortes’ decision) was the right move to leave someone out.”

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The club’s ace allowed one run on four hits with no walks in 88 pitches over six innings.

He beat Teoscar Hernandez 0-2 to move up to seventh but couldn’t finish the job.

Two fouls and three possessions later, Hernandez was left alone.

To Boone, this plate appearance told him Cole was done.

“After the long innings and the five-, six-pitch series leading up to this one, I knew I had to get it there,” Boone said before Game 2 at Dodger Stadium.

Boone talked to Cole on the mound and struck out a hit before calling out Clay Holmes, allowing a sack hit and striking out Will Smith before Tommy Kahnle took over in a game that strained the Yankees’ bullpen.

But Boone said he knew he would be changing the pitcher when he went to Cole.

How did he know that Cole, a strong man, was finished?

“You just have to take my word for it,” Boone said of Cole, who he said is healthy.

The Yankees chose not to change their roster.

Boone continued to roll with an unbalanced layout designed to get his best hitters up as often as possible, which compromised some balance.

On Friday, with Gleyber Torres leading off, Aaron Judge at third, and Giancarlo Stanton at cleanup, the Yankees had righties up top and a slew of lefties in the middle and bottom; Anthony Volpe was the only righty hitter among the final five slots.

The Dodgers took advantage.

In the sixth round, the Dodgers selected Anthony Banda to take out the Yankees’ lefty.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. He singled and stole a couple of bases, and Volpe intentionally led off Austin Wells’ infield single, but Alex Verdugo struck out.

There was no sign of a rally in the eighth round when Alex Vesia took out Chisholm and Anthony Rizzo before Volpe escaped.

Luis Gil will pitch Game 4 against what looks like a Dodgers bullpen game.

The Dodgers announced that Walker Buehler will start against Clarke Schmidt in Game 3.

Selecting Buehler means he will likely start Game 7.

The judges named him the overall Player of the Year and AL Best Player in voting for the 2024 Players’ Choice Awards, the only awards where players are chosen by their peers.

Judge defeated finalists Shohei Ohtani and Bobby Witt Jr.