Yankees: Aaron Boone responds to Gerrit Cole’s outburst after being removed from Rays game

Yankees manager Aaron Boone spoke about Gerrit Cole being upset on Wednesday night.

The New York Yankees had a week to forget. They were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium and then had the weekend Subway Series postponed when two members of the New York Mets organization tested positive for COVID-19.

But let’s rewind back to Wednesday night when Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was dealing against the Rays. Though he allowed two solo home runs, he took care of business the rest of the way and needed just one more out to complete seven innings of work.

Then came manager Aaron Boone, who felt the need to remove Cole at 109 pitches with a lefty coming up to bat. That resulted in Cole exchanging some words with his skipper (probably not appropriate!) and then visibly going off in the dugout.

Despite the high tensions, Boone wasn’t bothered by any of it.

Here’s what he had to say:

“I never get upset when guys care about their craft and care about us and the team and the game,’’ Boone said via the New York Daily News. “I think that’s what we saw from Gerrit. He’s as good a competitor as there is. He’s an ace in this spot. I love the fact he wants the ball. When you’re playing for a lot, sometimes that spills over, the emotion, when there’s a lot on the line. I really don’t have an issue with it.”

Just about everyone understood Cole’s frustration, so it’s comforting to know his manager did too. After all, the right-hander was signed to a $324 million contract for a reason — he’s the man leading this rotation and is tasked with shutting down the opposition by any means possible. When he’s painting 98 MPH in the seventh, he wants to stay in. Plain and simple.

With the Yankees dealing with so many injuries and other roster issues, it’s good to see that there’s no further drama resulting from this untimely situation. But we have to hope Boone learned his lesson, especially after the bullpen blew this game for the Bombers.

Keep your best pitcher in when he wants to finish the inning. It’s just one more out, and you’ll save using a reliever or having to use one in split-inning duty. Then maybe we’re not talking about this AND dealing with another loss.

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