The New York Yankees continue their Jekyll-and-Hyde act. Less than 24 hours after a thrilling comeback victory over the Boston Red Sox, ace hurler Gerrit Cole got shelled after intentionally walking Rafael Devers in the fourth inning.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone discussed the ill-fated walk, via YES Network.
Aaron Boone dissects Gerrit Cole's outing vs. Red Sox, the Rafael Devers intentional walk in the 4th. #YANKSonYES
“Something going in, just kind of working through preparation this week with Gerrit that we're going to be a little more aggressive in some situations. I talked about it with no one on there, and then simple as that, we didn't get the rest of the outs there,” Boone explained. “Once we scored the run, my preference would've been lets attack him, but obviously I didn't communicate that well enough, and I think Gerrit was a little indecisive out there and rolled with it. But in the end, we just didn't get enough outs for them.”
Cole had thrown a no-hitter and had faced the minimum 10 hitters before intentionally walking Devers with one out and nobody on base in the top of the fourth. The Boston slugger had been the only baserunner up to that point, as Cole hit him with a pitch in the first inning.
Boston went on a rally after the walk, scoring three runs that inning and four in the next one. Cole finished with seven earned runs in 4.1 frames.
What can New York learn from this?
The Yankees must stop overanalyzing situations
When asked who made the final decision, Boone emphasized that the coaching staff discussed the possibility of walking Devers in unusual situations, but Cole made the call in that moment.
“Again, this was something we talked about in the days leading up, just being a little more aggressive in some non-traditional scenarios where you intentionally put somebody on,” Boone said. “I think Gerrit felt convicted in that moment, like ‘hey, let's go with this.' But once we scored the run, I should've been more demanding, like ‘no, let's get after him right now.'”
With Devers historically getting the better of Cole, it would make sense to walk him in a late-game situation with baserunners. However, the 2023 AL Cy Young Award-winner was cruising up until the walk, which completely took him off his rhythym.
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Red Sox manager Alex Cora accused Cole of hitting Devers on purpose in the first at-bat, via Zolak & Bertrand's Tyler Milliken.
Alex Cora goes off on Gerrit Cole after the game. Says Cole didn't want to face Devers. The intentional walk after the hit by pitch proved that. Wow.
“I wasn't surprised at all, because I thought in the first at-bat he hit him on purpose. He didn't wanna face him, that's the bottom line,” Cora said. “He told us with the intentional walk that the first at-bat he hit him. We leave it at that. After that, he had bases loaded and had to face him. But you know, we took exception to that, because it was loud and clear that he didn't wanna face him, so that first at-bat, now after the intentional walk we're like okay, that's what happened.”
Going forward, it would be smart for the ace of the AL's top team to remember that the pitcher always has the advantage over the hitter, so there's no reason to run away from a challenge.
