Aaron Boone went to his bench twice in Game 2, and unfortunately, neither situation worked out.
However, when asked after the game about those decisions, Boone had a method for his madness, starting with using Matt Carpenter to pinch-hit for Jose Trevino with two on and two outs in the sixth, the game tied 2-2, and Trevor Stephan coming in to replace Shane Bieber.
“I didn’t just want to get him in the game. I wanted him to win the game,” Boone said. “That's our shot right there; first and second, two outs. Let's go. It was a tie ballgame there, and you can't always wait around or you start waiting forever. Any time we had a really good leverage situation and a matchup we liked, I was going to go with it.”
Carpenter struck out to end the inning, but that move maybe backfired twice, as it was Kyle Higashioka, and not Trevino, who came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth and lined out on an 0-2 pitch against Emmanuel Clase – a situation where, with no true third catcher, Boone couldn’t go to a bench that only had Marwin Gonzalez and Aaron Hicks left on it.
Two innings later, with Clase still in there, it was Tim Locastro – and not Giancarlo Stanton – who led off the inning, as Locastro had pinch-run for Stanton in that eighth. Locastro flew out, but Boone’s explanation for leaving the righty in, instead of using one of the two switch-hitters he had left, was based on Clase’s stats overall, as opposed to matchup.
“Clase, a little bit more of a reverse split guy, a guy that doesn't really typically walk guys, so for me, it was a little bit of a wash of an at-bat there,” Boone said. “I didn't want to burn the player with Timmy already in the game.”
Locastro had never faced Clase, but neither Hicks (0-for-3, 2 K) nor Gonzalez (0-for-1) had much success, either.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Listen live to WFAN via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker
Follow WFAN on Social Media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
