Yankees' Aaron Boone: 'Worth Exploring' a Potential MLB Mercy Rule

Boone's Yankees suffered a blowout 19–5 loss on Thursday night.

One day after getting destroyed 19–5 by the Indians, Yankees manager Aaron Boone responded to a question about the idea of Major League Baseball implementing a potential "mercy rule," saying he wouldn't mind seeing the majors consider the option.

During Thursday's blowout loss, the Bronx Bombers brought rookie designated hitter Mike Ford to the mound for two innings of relief. It was the first time a Yankees position player completed two innings on the mound.

Boone said a potential regular-season mercy rule could make sense and may have helped the team avoid having to put Ford in such a situation. Boone also cited ongoing attempts to protect pitchers' usage as part of his reasoning.

"If you get to this point after seven innings or whatever, there might be something to that, some merit to that and worth exploring," Boone said during a news conference Friday. "Because it's not fun to have to put in a position player in that kind of situation."

He continued: "Sitting in my chair, you worry about hurting someone. You hate throwing up a flag like that, and sitting there and getting kicked in the mouth is no fun."

A mercy rule is currently being used in the Little League World Series, where a game is called off if a team leads by at least 10 runs after the fourth inning of the six-inning contest or 15 runs after three innings.

New York rebounded from Thursday's loss with a 3–2 win over Cleveland on Friday night in the second game of the series.