NEW YORK — It’s a truism that sums up a manager’s job – damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
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In Game 1 of the 2024 World Series between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, Gerrit Cole was breezing through the Dodgers’ lineup. But Yankees manager Aaron Boone pulled him after six innings even though he had thrown just 88 pitches and the Yankees were leading 2-1.
The Dodgers – you might remember – came back to win on a walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman. When the Yankees lost the Series in five games, Boone came under heavy criticism for that decision (among others).
With the stakes far lower, Cole was back on the mound facing the Dodgers on Friday night – the Dodgers’ first visit to Yankee Stadium since Game 5 of that 2024 World Series (which Cole also started).
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning with Cole spinning a three-hit shutout. When he walked the first batter of the seventh, Boone came out to the mound with Cole having thrown 96 pitches and two left-handed batters (Max Muncy and Kyle Tucker) coming up.
Boone left him in. Wrong call again. Muncy crushed a 2-and-2 slider from Cole, admiring its 416-foot journey into the second deck down the right-field line for a game-changing two-run home run that lifted the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory to start the second half.
“I was feeling the situation out. Obviously in hindsight I should grab him there,” Boone said of the decision. “He pitched so well. I felt he was competitive in the Mookie at-bat (the walk). I felt like he had enough to get Max. He jumps out in front of him then he got a mistake. I’ve got (left-handed reliever Brent) Headrick teed up there. That’s on me. I should probably get him there even though I felt he was in a good place, threw the ball great tonight.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take it out of their hands.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been on the wrong side of those decisions over the years and recognized the dilemma Boone was in.
“It was a tough decision for Booney,” Roberts said. “Obviously you’re thinking about going to the ‘pen, or do you let your ace go after Max and Tucker. And Max spoiled some good pitches and then got a pitch in his wheelhouse and put a good swing on it.”
Muncy’s blow settled a pitchers’ duel between Cole and Roki Sasaki that seemed like it might be decided by another defensive breakdown by the Dodgers.
Sasaki went into the All-Star break with an 8.61 ERA over his last five starts, but he came out firing.
He threw seven pitches 101 mph or higher, topping out with MLB-career highs of 101.7 and 101.8 mph on back-to-back pitches while striking out Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning. He averaged 100.1 mph on 41 four-seam fastballs thrown in the game.
“It’s just still one game so it’s really hard to tell what exactly is going on. But I kind of changed the way to use my lower body. So I’m really happy to get that velo up,” Sasaki said through his interpreter.
“With the velo, it didn’t actually feel like I had a great intensity but the velo was actually there. I think that’s a good thing.”
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Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said the biggest adjustment Sasaki seemed to make.
“He was lights out. He was really good. That was about as quality as we’ve seen him this year, against an offense that’s pretty good,” Rushing said.
“I just go back to the conviction that he has. Watching him compete on the mound, there was a little bit different of an animal out there tonight.”
Sasaki allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out five before Jasson Dominguez hit a line drive into the right-center field gap with two outs in the fourth inning. Andy Pages ran it down but bobbled the ball on the warning track, allowing Dominguez to go to third on the error – the Dodgers’ 10th in their past six games.
Sasaki’s next pitch was a forkball outside to Jazz Chisholm Jr. that got away from Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing for a passed ball that allowed Dominguez to trot in from third base.
“I had trouble catching his splitter for half the game,” Rushing said. “That’s a pretty good sign (for Sasaki), I guess. Not such a good sign on my end. It worked out, but maybe I need to catch a few more before the game tomorrow.”
Sasaki pitched into the sixth inning before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called for the bullpen with two on and two out.
His was the right call. Jack Dreyer, Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott combined on 3⅓ scoreless innings in relief.
But the Dodgers’ defense had to make amends to keep the 2-1 lead.
With one out and Trent Grisham on first base, Ben Rice ripped a drive off the wall in center field. This time, Pages played it cleanly and quickly go it in to shortstop Mookie Betts. Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas aggressively sent Grisham, but Betts’ relay beat him home by a wide enough margin that Rushing was able to reach to the first-base side to handle the off-line throw and swing back to the third-base side in time to make the tag.
“It was just off line a little bit. But it was a strong throw,” Betts said of the throw from Pages. “That’s the main thing. It wasn’t just a lollipop in there. He gave us a good strong throw and at some point you’ve got to do something cool.”
To make a game-preserving play on defense was “huge” given the defensive slump the team slipped into before the break, Betts said.
“We still had a couple mishaps in this game. We’ve got to clean that up, for sure,” Betts said. “You can’t win a World Series doing what we did today. But we’ll keep working and try to clean it up.”
The win also snapped the three-game losing streak the Dodgers dragged into the All-Star break.
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