The New York Yankees season came to an end Tuesday night in a 6-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Wild Card game.
But at one point, there seemed to be a sliver of hope that they could come back. That was all ruined by a head-scratching decision by third base coach Phil Nevin.
With one out in the sixth inning and Aaron Judge on first base and the Yankees trailing 3-1, Giancarlo Stanton smoked a fly ball off the Green Monster in left-center field which appeared to set up first and third and one out with the go-ahead run at the plate.
Instead, as Kikè Hernandez fielded the ball off the wall, Nevin decided to wave Judge around as the throw came into shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
Bogaerts fired the relay throw on one-hop to home plate to get Judge by plenty for the second out of the inning.
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"I think coming in, what he saw was what he thought would be a tough chance, because the ball coming in looked like it was going to be an in-between hop," Aaron Boone said after the game. "Bogaerts did a good job of catching it clean and throwing home to squash a potential rally."
The play took the air out of the Yankees’ momentum as Stanton moved to second on the throw. But Joey Gallo popped up to end the threat and keep the score at 3-1.
It was the only time the Yankees had momentum at the plate all game. The only baserunner they would have the remainder of the game was a solo home run by Stanton in the ninth inning.
"It was an important point that definitely changed the momentum, but at the same time, these are games where you just keep fighting. That could’ve changed the coursr of the game if we got the run there with one out and me on second, but htat’s how it goes.
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