Yankees manager Aaron Boone has caught some flak from fans and pundits after his decision to remove ace Max Fried in the seventh inning of the club's eventual 3-1 loss to the Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League wild-card series on Tuesday night. Fried, after working himself out of trouble in the fifth and sixth innings, came out for the seventh having expended 99 pitches. After Fried induced a Jarren Duran groundout, Boone made the trip from the dugout and took the ball from his starter, turning to a Yankees bullpen that has been equal parts brilliant and disastrous this season.
Yankees reliever Luke Weaver got two quick strikes on Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela, but it was all downhill from there. A walk, a double and a single later, and the Red Sox had the lead.
After the game, Boone explained the reasoning behind removing Fried from the game.
"They pressured him pretty good in the fourth, fifth, sixth," Boone said. "Had a couple baserunners each inning. So I felt like he kind of cruised through the first few and obviously he ends up pitching great. But I felt like he had to work pretty hard—and I was going to have the sixth be the end but once we finished with the double play, I wanted him to go out and get Duran and felt like we were lined up."
As well as Boone felt Fried navigated through some traffic on the basepaths, the Yankees manager also seemed to see Fried emptying the tank a bit.
"Maybe a little bit I felt that way," Boone said. "I felt like his command was not as good those final few [innings]. He was making so many big pitches and his stuff was good. Look, he gave us what we needed and felt really good about the outing he put forth. But I felt pretty convicted, like, especially we got the double play. Let’s go get one more hitter and be good."
Did Fried feel that he had tired?
"I definitely exerted a lot of energy trying to get out of that, but I definitely had enough in the tank for whatever the team needed. But Booney [Aaron Boone] was confident to be able to give the ball to Weave [Luke Weaver] in that situation," Fried said.
While the Yankees bullpen went on to surrender one more run in the ninth, New York had a chance to rally against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman, loading the bases with no one out but ultimately falling short.
The Yankees will now turn to Carlos Rodon in a do-or-die Game 2 on Wednesday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Boone Explains Why He Pulled Max Fried in Yankees' Game 1 Loss.
