Aaron Boone was loudly booed after electing to intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera in the Tigers star’s last at-bat of the afternoon, in the last chance for Tigers fans to see their hero make a play for 3,000 career hits.
From a pure strategy standpoint, the move made sense, as a walk brought up a lefty in Austin Meadows to face the lefty reliever Lucas Leutge, as opposed to facing the righty Cabrera, fresh off of a three-hit night on Wednesday. Of course, the fans at Comerica Park didn’t want to hear any of that, only focused on missing a chance to see baseball history after Cabrera entered the game needing just one hit to reach the milestone.
After the game, Boone explained the expected, that he wanted the lefty-on-lefty matchup with the Yanks down just one in the bottom of the eighth.
“The left on left, I felt like the matchup, I just liked it a little better in that situation,” Boone said. “It came down to a baseball call for me there. Tough decision, thought Lucas executed a pitch and got the soft contact, but it dunked in there.
“Tough call, but one I had to make...in the end, you gotta go with what you think is right in the context of the game."
Leutge agreed with Boone's call, and agreed that it was going to be a tougher decision than normal given the stakes.
"Didn't you see me try to walk to the back of the mound?" Luetge joked to WFAN's Suzyn Waldman. "It was Aaron Boone's decision, and I get it. When Matt [Blake] came out, I knew what it was about. It was the baseball move."
Boone’s call did not pan out, as Meadows dunked in a two-run double just in front of an outstretched Aaron Hicks in center, putting the game out of reach, especially with how poorly the Yankee lineup has been performing to start the season.
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