One of the greatest New York Yankees to ever wear the pinstripes took issue with manager Aaron Boone pulling starter Gerrit Cole early in Game 1 of the World Series.
Cole pitched like an ace against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over six innings, he gave up just one run on four hits, struck out four and walked none.
Despite Cole keeping the Dodgers’ bats quiet for most of the night, Boone took the former Cy Young Award winner out after 88 pitches and went to the bullpen.
The domino effect of taking Cole out of the game allowed hobbled Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman to hit a walk-off grand slam off Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Dodgers won 6-3 and are up 1-0 in the World Series.
Before Friday night, it had been a roller-coaster postseason for Cole. Across three starts in the ALDS and ALCS, Cole pitched 16 1/3 innings, giving up six earned runs on 19 hits and six walks, striking out 12.
However, in Game 1, the ace returned.
One Yankees legend turned analyst, though, would liked to have seen Cole go longer.
Related: 8 takeaways as Los Angeles Dodgers win wild World Series Game 1 against New York Yankees
Derek Jeter takes issue with New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone pulling Gerrit Cole
“Gerrit Cole was dominating this game… 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.” – Derek Jeter on Aaron Boone’s decisionpic.twitter.com/DpfEYNmFpu
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 26, 2024
During FS1’s postgame show, Derek Jeter was befuddled as to why Boone pulled Cole after just 88 pitches.
“Gerrit Cole was dominating this game. He was dominating the game. 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,” Jeter said.
“I just think when you have someone that’s dealing like Gerrit Cole, who is dealing tonight, you leave him out there as long as you can.”
The Hall of Famer even brought up Al Leiter’s Game 5 World Series start for the New York Mets against the Yankees. Leiter threw 142 pitches in 8 2/3 innings for the Mets as the Yanks went on to win 4-2 and win the championship.
If the Yanks are unable to come back and win the World Series, Boone will be forever second-guessed about his management of Game 1.
Game 2 is Saturday night, with first pitch at 8:08 p.m. ET. The Yankees will start Carlos Rodon, while the Dodgers will go with Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
