The bullpen that has been one of the New York Yankees’ biggest weaknesses this season faltered again in their postseason opener and has them on the brink of elimination at the hands of the rival Boston Red Sox.
After starting pitcher Max Fried worked six scoreless innings in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series, manager Aaron Boone let him take the mound in the seventh. But Boone removed Fried after he retired the first batter. Coming on in relief was Luke Weaver, who walked the first batter he faced, then allowed a double and Masataka Yoshida’s two-run single.
David Bednar later gave up back-to-back hits in the ninth to give Boston some breathing room, putting Boone’s in-game pitching decisions under the microscope yet again in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss.
Boone defended his decision after the game. “I felt like [Fried’s] command was not as good those final few,” Boone said. “He’s just making so many big pitches, and his stuff was good. He gave us what we needed and felt really good about the outing he put forth, but I felt pretty convicted. Especially we got the double play, it’s like, ‘Let’s go get one more hitter and be good.’”
Fried had thrown 102 pitches when he left the game, but said he felt like he “had enough in the tank for whatever the team needed.” He added: “I definitely felt good at the end, coming out feeling good. I’m going to stay in until I get the ball taken from me.”
Boone made that call and handed the ball to Weaver, who has struggled since returning in June from a stint on the injured list with a strained hamstring. The righty had a 1.05 ERA in his first 24 appearances before getting hurt and then a 5.31 over his final 40 games.
“I’ll take Weave there at the bottom of the order, especially with an out in the books,” Boone said.
Weaver started Ceddanne Rafaela off with two strikes before walking him in an 11-pitch plate appearance. It snowballed from there with Nick Sogard doubling, Yoshida driving in two. Weaver didn’t record an out and exited with the Yankees trailing.
“They put a good approach together, put the ball in play and found the holes,” Weaver said, describing his pitching as competitive. “I know there’s a lot of disappointed people, including myself, but I just got to be better.”
There were plenty of pregame decisions questioned, too, with left-handed hitters Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr and Ryan McMahon not in the lineup against Boston starter Garrett Crochet, who got 23 outs before fellow lefty Aroldis Chapman recorded the final four to close it out. Crochet retired 17 consecutive batters after Anthony Volpe homered to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
But after turning to Nestor Cortes in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers last year – with Freddie Freeman hitting a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 on Cortes’ first pitch – and making other calls to the bullpen that didn’t work out, Boone put himself in position to be second-guessed again.
He expressed no regret about the decisions afterward, other than lamenting Weaver not getting Rafaela out.
“I felt good about him going through there: Sogard and then probably a pinch-hit lefty there,” Boone said. “They played a couple hits on him where [he left it] maybe just a little up with a couple of the pitches more than he wanted.”
It’s a familiar script for the Yankees, whose bullpen ERA of 4.37 ranked 23rd out of 30 teams. That could have been forgotten if they scored after loading the bases with no outs in the ninth, but Chapman got out of the jam against his former team.
New York had scored in 25 of their previous 28 innings when loading the bases with no outs.
“One hit there and we tie the game,” said Paul Goldschmidt, who singled to begin the rally that fell short. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out but a good job to give ourselves a chance.”
Game 1 wildcard results
American League: Boston Red Sox 3-1 New York Yankees; Detroit Tigers 2-1 Cleveland Guardians.
National League: San Diego Padres 1-3 Chicago Cubs; Cincinatti Reds 5-10 Los Angeles Dodgers.
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