NEW YORK — Yankees manager Aaron Boone is pointing the finger squarely at himself after a critical seventh-inning decision led to a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
The trouble began when Gerrit Cole walked Mookie Betts to lead off the seventh with New York ahead by a run. Boone made the slow walk out to the mound, had an eight-second exchange with his pitcher, and then turned around and headed back to the dugout — leaving Cole in the game.
Seven pitches later, Max Muncy sent a hanging slider 416 feet into the right-field second deck, handing Los Angeles a victory in the Dodgers’ first trip back to the Bronx since capturing the first of back-to-back World Series championships in 2024.
After the game, Boone didn’t mince words about the call. “On me,” he said three times, adding three different versions of “I probably should grab him there.”
Cole had been outstanding up to that point. In his 10th start since returning from Tommy John surgery in May, the right-hander carried a three-hit shutout with eight strikeouts into the seventh inning.
New York’s lone run came in the fourth inning against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki on an unearned basis. Jasson Domínguez doubled and moved to third when center fielder Andy Pages fumbled the ball near the warning track. Domínguez then scored on a passed ball by Dalton Rushing.
When Cole fell behind Betts 3-0 before getting two called strikes and missing outside with a fastball, Boone had left-handed reliever Brent Headrick warmed up in the bullpen. With lefty hitters Muncy and Kyle Tucker due up next, the situation seemed to call for a change.
Cole said he sensed he might still get a chance to stay in. “I figured he was going to give me a conversation,” the 35-year-old said. “He asked me to get Muncy and I said, ‘Of course.’”
Boone said his decision was based on feel rather than statistics. “You’re reading body language. You’re reading conversation,” he explained. “I have a thought in my head going out there, so I’m making the decision as I’m walking out there.”
Cole got ahead of Muncy 0-2, but Muncy fouled off a changeup. A slider near the outside corner was ruled a ball, a call that frustrated Cole. “I was like, dude, it’s so close,” he said. “I mean, I feel like under an inch it’s like flip it. You’ve just got to kind of I guess go with your gut, but at the same time my mindset is I can always make another pitch.”
Muncy fouled off another slider, took an outside fastball, and then crushed Cole’s 103rd and final pitch of the night into the second deck. Cole briefly glanced back, chose not to watch it land, and slapped his bare hand into his glove.
“I didn’t really give the pitch a chance,” Cole said. “He pulled out a great swing.”
Muncy left the stadium without speaking to reporters. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. “It was a tough decision for Boonie,” Roberts said. “Max spoiled some good pitches and then got a pitch in his wheelhouse and put a good swing on it.”
The last time Los Angeles played in the Bronx was Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, when Cole held a 5-0 advantage before errors by Cole himself and Aaron Judge in center field opened the door to five unearned runs in the fifth inning. The Dodgers rallied to win 7-6 and claim the title.
Friday’s game was played with smoke hanging in the air from Canadian wildfires. With the win, Los Angeles improved to a major league-best 62-36 to open the second half of the season. New York fell to 54-43 and remains 18-20 without Judge, who is still sidelined with a fractured rib.
The Yankees also came up short on a late rally attempt. Trent Grisham was thrown out trying to score from first base on Ben Rice’s eighth-inning double off the right-center field wall. Pages fielded the ball on a bounce and threw to Betts, whose relay was caught by Rushing about five feet up the first-base line. Rushing tagged Grisham’s left leg as he slid in.
Boone said he didn’t fault third base coach Luis Rojas for sending Grisham. Grisham, who had returned July 3 from a strained right hamstring, admitted he got off to a slow start on the play. “I’m conscious of my hammy. I’m coming back from it,” Grisham said.
Roberts credited his team’s defensive effort. “We gave one away I thought early with the defense and to make a play like that defensively was big,” he said.
