Aaron Boone was going to be subject to second-guessing no matter who emerged from the bullpen Friday night. That’s the workaday life of the Yankees manager, where every decision is fodder for public debate, even more so if a reliever doesn’t get a key out or gives up a rocket that wrecks a game.
That’s exactly what happened after Boone chose Nestor Cortes to pitch in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. Shohei Ohtani (gulp!) was waiting to hit and there were two runners on base and one out. Cortes retired Ohtani on a fly ball. But after the Yanks chose to intentionally walk Mookie Betts, Cortes allowed a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman.
Game 1 over. 6-3 Dodgers win.
It was the first walk-off grand slam in Fall Classic history, a Kirk Gibson-in-1988 flashback moment — a hobbling player hits an enormous World Series homer — and an unimaginable gut punch to the Yankees, who were within one out of stealing a victory in Los Angeles.
But while it’s fair to wonder about Boone’s choice of Cortes there, was it really all that outrageous of a move? The Yankees have for ages talked about Cortes possessing real guts, the kind of moxie it would take to wriggle out of a Grade A jam like this.
We exist in a public climate nowadays where every time a relief pitcher gets dinged, the reaction skews to it being the manager’s fault for bringing that particular reliever in at that particular time. The pitcher deserves blame (most of it), no? Just like they deserve most of the credit when it goes right. Cortes got beat by a future Hall of Famer. That’s pretty much the whole story.
That’s not to make this all about Cortes, either. There were reasons for him to come into the game and, perhaps, reasons why you might want to pick, say, Tim Hill, a superior ground-ball guy, instead. Let’s consider.
First, here’s Boone on why he preferred Cortes in that spot, even if Cortes had not pitched in a game since Sept. 18 because of injury:
“Just liked the matchup. The reality is, he’s been throwing the ball really well the last few weeks as he’s gotten ready for this.
“I knew with one out there, it would be tough to double up Shohei if Tim Hill gets him on the ground and then Mookie behind him is a tough matchup there. So, felt convicted with Nestor in that spot.”
Entering the clash with Ohtani, Ohtani was just 2-for-12 against Cortes lifetime. Freeman had a little more success in a minuscule sample size (1-for-3, a double) against Cortes. But Freeman has also hit Hill: 3-for-7, including a home run. Ohtani was 1-for-4 against Hill.
Asked in the interview room in Los Angeles if Cortes’ history against Ohtani was why he liked Cortes there, Boone replied, “I mean, a little bit. I don’t know if you ever love a matchup against Ohtani, but I felt like Nestor could give us a shot at it.”
As for walking Betts to get to Freeman, Boone said he did not deliberate much on that. “Just taking the left-on-left matchup there,” the manager said.
Hill was a reasonable choice to come in there instead of Cortes, too. After he was released by, of all teams, the moribund White Sox, and signed by the Yanks days later, Hill had a 2.05 ERA in 35 regular-season games. He’s emerged as a reliable lefty option in the postseason, too, allowing two runs (one earned) in 5.2 playoff innings over seven appearances.
Boone had Hill warming up at the same time Cortes was getting loose. It’s always good to give your opponent multiple things to think about. And Boone wanted options, too:
“I just wanted to make sure that Nestor warmed up well and then if there was a two-out situation, I wanted to at least have the consideration to use Timmy there.”
Still, it’s not like Hill now equals Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton or any other of history’s overwhelming lefties. If Hill had come into the game instead of Cortes, the Yankees may be up, 1-0, in the series or maybe they still lose and all the yellers are blaming Boone for not bringing in Cortes instead.
As Freeman’s ball soared into the LA night, it was hard not to think about what a great moment it was for Freeman and the Dodgers. Baseball, too. But it also perhaps showed how difficult managing is. Every move comes stuffed with pitfalls.
What if Aaron Judge, only maybe the best hitter on the planet, had come through after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had intentionally walked Juan Soto to pitch to Judge in the ninth inning? Then Roberts is the one getting second-guessed and Boone is the manager sitting on a series lead.
The decision to walk someone in front of a player like Judge “is never easy,” Roberts told reporters in the interview room. “I think the same thing could be posed to Boonie, to walk Mookie to get to Freddie. It’s never comfortable. You’ve just got to sort of believe in your process and the matchup that you got right there.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
On Friday, for Boone and the Yankees, choosing to use Cortes didn’t work and the result was a disheartening loss. What lingers longer, the debate about the decision or the sting from losing?
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