Yankees manager Aaron Boone says Cole's intentional walk to Devers was a miscommunication

Updated Sep. 15, 2024 1:25 p.m. ET

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone says he did not communicate effectively when ace Gerrit Cole intentionally walked Boston's Rafael Devers with one out and no one on base in the fourth inning.

“I’m not going to go back and litigate everything that was done and not said,” Boone said before Sunday's series finale. “At the end of the day, I certainly pride myself on communicating at a really high level and yesterday we didn’t do it well enough and that falls on me. So we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to grow from it and hopefully make sure we can eliminate those gray areas.

“Can’t always do it but eliminate those gray areas as much as possible and ultimately that falls on me to make sure we’re buttoned up in that sense all the time.”

Having held the first 10 batters hitless and with the Yankees holding a 1-0 lead Saturday, Cole issued his first intentional walk since Sept. 12, 2017. Devers stole second and scored in a three-run inning. Devers hit a two-run single in a four-run fifth that sent the Red Sox to a 7-1 victory.

After the game, Boone termed it “a little overthinking” and said he and Cole had discussed being more aggressive in the use of intentional walks. Cole said he talked about the possibility with pitching coach Matt Blake while in the tunnel before the fourth, viewing the strategy as a way to get a starter to go deeper into the game on a day when New York’s bullpen was thin.

In between Boone and Cole’s comments, Austin Wells said wasn’t made aware of the plan, though Boone noted catchers typically are not involved in intentional walk discussions.

“Austin’s game planning is involved on how we’re attacking, how we’re getting out, what pitches he’s calling and stuff,” Boone said. “So those are a lot of times in the moment decisions that happen from the dugout that you’re getting the attention of the catcher."

Cole allowed seven runs, his most since June 9, 2022. He hit a career-high three batters and left after 4 1/3 innings.

Cole retired nine of his first 10 batters, allowing his only batter to reach when Devers was hit on a cutter in the first inning that Boston manager Alex Cora felt was intentional, which Cole denied. Before the rivals concluded their season series, Cora said he conveyed a similar message when he spoke with Boone after Saturday’s game.

“We talked,” Cora said. “There’s two ways of seeing it, their dugout and our dugout. Like I told him, put yourself in our shoes and you will understand why we feel this way.”

New York’s earliest bases-empty intentional walks had been in the sixth inning: to the Philadelphia Athletics’ Al Simmons by Roy Sherid leading off on Sept. 22, 1930, and to Washington’s Frank Howard by Fritz Peterson with two outs on April 22, 1970.

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