Yankees’ Aaron Boone owns costly decision to have Gerrit Cole face Max Muncy: ‘That’s on me’

Gerrit Cole was dominating the Dodgers on Friday night through six innings, allowing just three singles and the Yankees staked him to a 1-0 lead.

However, Cole came out in the seventh with already 90 pitches under his belt. He battled with Mookie Betts, but the shortstop worked a walk, forcing manager Aaron Boone to come out.

Southpaw Brent Headrick was already warmed up in the bullpen to potentially face the left-handed Max Muncy, but Boone had a conversation with Cole, and he left the veteran out there.

Cole and Muncy battled, but a 90 mph slider over the heart of the plate resulted in a two-run shot, the decisive blow in a 2-1 loss.

“I was feeling the situation out,” Boone said of the decision after the game. “Obviously, in hindsight, I probably should grab him there. Pitched so well. I felt like he was competitive back in the Mookie at-bat. I felt like he had enough to get Max and jumps out in front of him. But then [Muncy] got a mistake.

“I got Headrick teed up there. That’s on me. I should probably get him there, even though it felt like he was in a good place and obviously threw the ball great tonight.”

Boone asked Cole if he had one more batter in him, and Cole said he did, but the longtime Yankees skipper recognized his mistake and needed to take the decision out of his player’s hands.

“That falls on me,” Boone reiterated.

“I looked at the pitch. It’s not where I wanted, but I looked at the swing and it was pretty excellent,” Cole said of the Muncy at-bat. “But yea, it stinks.”

The homer put a damper on what was Cole’s best start since elbow surgery more than a year ago. He threw a season-high 103 pitches and struck out eight batters in that formidable Dodgers lineup.

Despite the loss, Cole and Boone are encouraged by the right-hander’s performance and what it could mean as the Yankees start the second half of the season.

“Back-to-back outstanding outings for him. And tonight was really good,” Boone said of Cole’s outing. “I thought he was just really sharp. I thought he used all his pitches, his secondary well. The change up right away, especially for some of their lefties, was a factor. He spun the ball well, and then I thought he was really spotting his fastball, which had life to it. He threw the heck out of the ball.”

“It’s nice to push the stamina to, get back out there and, for an extra hitter and just keep going for it,” Cole said. “Keep competing, so that’s great. Learning opportunity physically and obviously, hitting deeper into the second half, a good learning opportunity as well that it’s not over till it’s over. You got to keep making pitches, especially against, a great team like the Dodgers.”

Following Friday’s start, Cole is now 3-5 and lowered his ERA to 3.93 and has now allowed three runs or fewer in seven of his 10 starts, including two runs or fewer in six of those starts.

The Yankees will look to bounce back when they take on the Dodgers again Saturday night.

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