Derek Jeter Doesn't Hold Back on Aaron Boone's Controversial Yankees Decision

Derek Jeter and Joe Girardi critiqued Aaron Boone’s controversial decisions in the Yankees' Game 1 loss in the World Series.

Oct 11, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Left to right: Fox Sports broadcasters Kevin Burkhardt and Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz and Derek Jeter before game five between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees were clinging to a 2-1 lead midway through the seventh inning of World Series Game 1 before things became dicey with their bullpen. 

New York removed ace Gerrit Cole from the game after just 88 pitches in favor of Clay Holmes, who encountered immediate trouble. Tommy Kahnle then entered and managed to escape a two-out jam with runners on second and third. 

Kahnle began the eighth inning but allowed a one-out double, which Shohei Ohtani turned into a triple due to a fielding error by Gleyber Torres. Ohtani later scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Mookie Betts against closer Luke Weaver, who was asked to record five outs.

While Weaver gave his team a chance to win in extra innings, legendary Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter criticized the ripple effect caused by manager Aaron Boone’s decision to pull Cole too early.

On the FOX postgame show, the five-time champion argued that the Yankees should have adopted a similar strategy to the New York Mets in the 2000 World Series, citing Al Leiter’s 142-pitch performance to keep his team in Game 5, despite the Mets ultimately losing that game.

"Gerrit Cole was dominating this game,” Jeter said. “And if you take him out after 88 pitches for I don't know what reason, it's a domino effect on not only this game tonight, tomorrow's game, and the rest of this series. I just think when you have someone that’s dealing like Gerrit Cole, you leave him out there as long as you can."

"It's a domino effect on not only this game tonight. Tomorrow's game, and the rest of the series." 👀

Derek Jeter speaks on Gerrit Cole being pulled after 88 pitches pic.twitter.com/yiPANjZ0On

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 26, 2024

Former Yankees' manager Joe Girardi, who led the club to its last title in 2009, explained the factors likely influencing Boone’s decision to lift Cole while appearing on YES Network.

“Through the first five innings, he had nine outs on his four-seamer, whether they were pop-ups or strikeouts,” Girardi said. “In the sixth, his four-seamer was caught up to by Tommy Edman, and in the seventh, Teoscar Hernández hit one. I think that’s why Aaron probably went to get him because all of a sudden, he wasn’t getting outs with his four-seamer.”

Joe Girardi provides his thoughts about Game 1 against the Dodgers. pic.twitter.com/xuyjEMQvNw

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 26, 2024

After taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the tenth on a fielder’s choice, Boone made the controversial decision to call upon left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. for his first appearance in over a month, with runners on first and second and Ohtani stepping to the plate. Fellow left-hander Tim Hill, who has a 1.59 ERA through seven appearances this postseason, was still available.

Ohtani, who was only 2-for-12 against Cortes before the at-bat, was retired again on just one pitch—a flyout to Alex Verdugo, who leaped into the stands to secure the second out. Instead of facing the dangerous right-hander Betts, who is 0-for-5 against Cortes in his career, New York intentionally walked him to set up eight-time All-Star Freddie Freeman for a lefty-on-lefty matchup.

Freeman proceeded to hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history, snatching a 1-0 series lead away from the Yankees. Girardi believed the club must have felt confident after seeing Cortes in a simulated game earlier in the week, but he argued that safer options were available.

“You look at the Dodgers, they brought in Vesia and Graterol, and they hadn’t pitched in a while. Especially Graterol, and he was pretty good today,” Girardi said. “Nestor just made a mistake. There’s no guarantee if you bring in Tim Hill that he’s gonna get it done, but obviously Tim Hill has been really good in the playoffs and is probably sharper than Nestor Cortes.”

The Yankees will look to shake off the Game 1 loss and even the series in Saturday night’s Game 2 before returning home to the Bronx for Games 3-5. Carlos Rodón will take the mound for New York opposite Yoshinobu Yamamoto.