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The Yankees are trying to move on.
The Red Sox are relishing the Gerrit Cole mess and turning it into fuel.
Following a busy Boston win on Saturday, during which Cole deliberately walked Rafael Devers with the bases empty and one out in the fourth inning — a move that fired up the Red Sox and set off a downward spiral from Cole — manager Aaron Boone accepted blame for a breakdown in communication.
Saturday, Boone said he would have preferred for Cole to face Devers.
Cole explained that the team’s strategy — discussed in a conversation with pitching coach Matt Blake in the tunnel during the previous half-inning — had indeed included the intentional walk.
The pitcher believing one thing and the manager believing another was an issue for which Boone took responsibility.
“Ultimately, I take pride in maintaining excellent communication,” Boone stated ahead of the series wrap-up between the Yankees and Red Sox in The Bronx on Sunday. “Yesterday, we fell short in that aspect, and as the leader, that responsibility rests with me. We will take this as a learning experience, evolve from it, and strive to eliminate any uncertainties in the future.”
Catcher Austin Wells said he was caught “off-guard” by the intentional walk and was not part of any meetings that discussed the strategy.
Boone said what sounds like a strange dynamic is not strange.
“Austin’s game-planning is involved on how we’re attacking, how we’re getting out, what pitches he’s calling,” Boone said. “So those [intentional walks] are a lot of times in-the-moment decisions that happen from the dugout.”
Boone said he did not want to “litigate” all the choices made 24 hours earlier. His counterpart, Red Sox manager Alex Cora, would love it if his own group continues to think about Saturday’s events.
Boston was angry not just at Cole’s refusal to pitch to Devers in the fourth inning, but Cole hitting Devers with a cutter in the first inning. Cora said he believed the pitch had intent, a sign that the Yankees ace did not want to pitch to a slugger who has had his number.
The Red Sox scored seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings Saturday, rallying against a pitcher at whom they had grown aggrieved. Cora hoped his group, which entered play Sunday seven games back of a wild-card spot, carries that anger with them.
“If this [playoff run] happens, we’re going to look back at [Saturday], and we’re probably going to thank Gerrit Cole for getting us going,” said Cora, who acknowledged they have a long way to go. “Hopefully, it happens, and hopefully, we can face [Cole] in the playoffs because he will have to pitch.”
Cole said he did not intend to drill Devers. Boone, who said the same, had talked with Cora.
“I think it’s also a manager that’s using that moment a little bit to rally his troops,” Boone said.