Aaron Boone ruins Gerrit Cole's sterling Yankees outing with senseless bullpen move

It was all right in front of them. The New York Yankees had the inside track to sweep Saturday's doubleheader against the Texas Rangers. After winning the first game 8-0, they had Gerrit Cole breathing fire in the second contest.

But for some reason, Aaron Boone put a halt to that. Cole came out for the sixth inning, got the first out in two pitches, and was then pulled from the game in favor of Luke Weaver. Any reason why? Care to tell us since he was only at 90 pitches? Cole had another full inning left in the tank, especially with the way he was dealing.

Obviously, had the decision worked out, we wouldn't be talking about this. But the moment Cole got the hook, many fans were questioning it rather than supporting it. And then it was easy to express frustration when Weaver completely imploded.

With one out in the sixth, Weaver's inning went single, single, single, walk, sacrifice fly, home run. And just like that it was 6-1 Rangers.

Boos rained down on Yankee Stadium when Boone came out to remove Weaver and replace him with Michael Tonkin. The game got out of hand in mere minutes and Weaver might've gotten out of it had Jazz Chisholm's foot moved an inch to the right on a close play at third base following a diving attempt from Juan Soto in the outfield.

Aaron Boone ruins Gerrit Cole's sterling Yankees outing with senseless bullpen move

But there's no telling if Weaver would've been able to escape the trouble even if he had gotten that out. His stuff was flat and he was leaving his pitches over the heart of the plate for the best Rangers' hitters to feast.

Relievers have bad games. That's nothing new. And fans shouldn't be directing any ire at Weaver, who has largely been very good this season despite the Yankees overvaluing him because of their poor bullpen depth.

This one's on Boone, who took out his best pitcher who had a season-high 10 strikeouts through five innings. Sure, Cole was laboring a bit, but he had everything under control for the most part. His lone blemish was in the fourth when he let the first three batters reach (and allowed a run), but then he struck out the next three to get out of the jam. He went 1-2-3 in the fifth and then got Langford in a flash to start the sixth.

If Boone always had a plan to remove Cole, the ace should've been out after the fifth. Why trot him out for the sixth to let him steal an out in two pitches only to take him out for a reliever who has conducted most of his work in innings seven and eight this season?

This is the troubling bullpen management fans are constantly on Boone about. There's sometimes no rhyme or reason to his decisions, and these calls rarely ever make sense. Was it because lefty Nathaniel Lowe was coming up next? We're really playing the matchups in the sixth inning with nobody on base? Did Cole really have a hard out at 90 pitches? Was Boone prepared to let Weaver go 1 2/3 innings? Why was Weaver the call in a low-leverage situation?

Oh well, it's 8-1 Rangers now. We'll see you for the rubber match on Sunday afternoon we guess, as we wait on news about Trent Grisham after he was hit on the hand by a pitch.