Aaron Boone Kills New York Yankees' Rally With Inexcusable Blunder

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone made a controversial decision on Tuesday.

Aug 27, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone gestures in the dugout. / Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

By now, most New York Yankees fans are used to criticizing manager Aaron Boone. And during Tuesday night's game against the Washington Nationals, he gave them another reason to do so.

Despite having Gerrit Cole on the mound and facing one of the worst pitchers in baseball in Patrick Corbin, the Yankees somehow suffered a 4-2 defeat. Washington had some help from Boone, who made a questionable decision with the game on the line.

Down 4-2 in the top of the ninth, New York was rallying. The Yankees had already scored a run in the frame and were poised to do additional damage with runners on first and second and only one out. However, their No. 9 hitter, DJ LeMahieu, was coming to the plate to face Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan.

Unfortunately for New York, LeMahieu has been one of the worst hitters in the league this year. The 36-year-old infielder entered the game with a paltry .199/.267/.257 batting line before going 1-for-3 with a run and an error.

Both LeMahieu and Finnegan are right-handed, making this the perfect time to send up a pinch-hitter. Boone also had multiple left-handed options on his bench after starting a righty-heavy lineup to face the left-handed Corbin, including Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and switch-hitter Oswaldo Cabrera, all of whom have much better numbers than LeMahieu.

There was absolutely no reason to let DJ LeMahieu hit there. What are we doing pic.twitter.com/lplniFxTz0

— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) August 28, 2024

So what did Boone do in this critical situation? The skipper left LeMahieu to fend for himself against Washington's All-Star closer.

As a result, LeMahieu failed to deliver, flying out to rookie outfielder Dylan Crews in foul territory for the second out. Gleyber Torres flew out to Crews as well, stranding the tying runs to end the game with Juan Soto on deck and Aaron Judge in the hole.

LeMahieu may be a former All-Star and batting champion, but he has had an extremely rough campaign in 2024. He's been worth -1.5 WAR this season, but Boone keeps giving him regular playing time.

After the game, Boone defended his decision by saying Finnegan "handles lefties." That being said, Yankees' lefties went 3-for-3 against Finnegan prior to LeMahieu's at-bat.

Perhaps if Boone sent up someone else to hit for LeMahieu instead, the game would have turned out differently. But that didn't happen and New York's last-ditch rally was thwarted by its own dugout.