Last Saturday provided one of the most memorable games of the Yankees’ season, thanks in large part to Gerrit Cole’s complete game shutout in a 1-0 win against the Astros.
One of the top moments from that victory came in between the action, when Aaron Boone came out for a mound visit with the tying run on base in the ninth inning. But Boone returned to the dugout after an animated Cole was seen shouting among the huddle of Yankees, and Cole finished the job with a strikeout of Yordan Alvarez on his career-high 129th pitch.
But, as Boone told Carton and Roberts on Thursday, he never planned to take Cole out before facing Alvarez.
“When I went out there, I was comfortable with one more hitter,” Boone said. “I wasn’t going to take him out. I was just going to check the temperature. But that was gonna be his last hitter, Alvarez there. just wanted to make sure he was still good and sound, and as you saw he was pretty animated and ready to get after it.”
Boone kept it censored as to what exactly Cole was shouting, which the Yankee ace said included saying “The F-word a lot.”
“He was basically looking around at everyone saying ‘Let’s go, let’s finish this, let’s punch some tickets!’” Boone said. “He was just letting out a little bit of emotion, but also in the same sense knew he was in control.”
The bullpen was thin for the Yanks when Cole was putting up zeroes, making Boone more pressed to stick with his ace as the later innings approached in what felt like a must-win game for his group.
“He and I were talking through it from the seventh inning on,” Boone said. “He felt good…being as razor thin as it was and not having Loaisiga down there and Chappie struggling and how we handled that situation, and Greenie we had used the night before…so we didn’t have our typical back of the bullpen set up. Just kept communicating with Gerrit in between innings and he was sound to go out there.”
It also felt like a must-win for Cole, who had been knocked around in his last two outings, fueling more questions about his ability to remain an ace despite the lack of sticky substances as a result of MLB’s crackdown. But he silenced those questions on Saturday by getting loud on the mound in the ninth.
“It was a huge night in all that he’s been through the last couple weeks and for him going back to Houston playing there for the first time, pitching the way he was, at that point you saw him pretty animated on the mound,” Boone said. “He was fired up, but he was very much all day very in command of his emotions.”
Listen to Boone's full interview with Carton & Roberts below!
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