NEW YORK — It’s a truism that sums up a manager’s job – damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
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.
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.
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.
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, where Rushing handled the off-line throw and made the tag.
The win snapped the three-game losing streak the Dodgers dragged into the All-Star break.
More to come on this story.