On a night when nothing went right, Aaron Boone’s decision-making left a lot to be desired. Right after Gleyber Torres gave the New York Yankees a fighting chance against the Seattle Mariners with his 3-run homer, Boone’s disastrous decision shifted the momentum completely towards the M’s. Surprisingly, the skipper was quite candid in admitting that a mistake had been made from his side.

With the Yankees trailing the Mariners 3-4 by the 8th inning, Boone had a choice to make. Either he could stick with the plan and bring in Clayton Andrews or do something different by giving the ball to Caleb Ferguson. Boone chose the former and in came Andrews. Though one can’t call it an uninformed decision (Boone had pretty apt reasons for doing so), still it ended up backfiring on the Yankees. The M’s immediately scored a run and that pushed the game further away from the Pinstripes’ touch.

As a result, during his post-game conference, Boone admitted that he could’ve done things differently. “The case there is to bring in Fergie there. Which, in hindsight, I probably should have done,” Boone said. However, when asked why he chose Andrews, Boone had a simple reason for it. “I liked the lane for him,” he revealed.

What Boone meant was that Andrews was going to face Luke Raley and Cal Raleigh. While the former is a lefty, the latter’s a switch-hitter with a weak right side. As a result, calling on a lefty not only seemed logical but smart. But what Boone couldn’t foresee was that the Andrews just wasn’t ready for the moment yet. The pitcher had been called up a day before due to Ian Hamilton’s COVID-19 IL.

As a result, giving the ball to a much more experienced Ferguson should’ve been an audible that Boone made. However, while things are tough the skipper did get great news from the pitching front.

The New York Yankees’ pitching staff gets a major cog back

Unfortunately for Clayton Andrews, he was immediately optioned after this game. The pitcher will return to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilke-Barre. But in his place, the New York Yankees will finally welcome back Tommy Kahnle. The righty’s shoulder discomfort had been continuously stretching since last September. 

But now that he’s back with five rehab appearances in Low A and Double-A games in his bag, Kahnle could prove to be a major force for the Bronx Bombers. Though the Pinstripes have managed their pitching staff tremendously without key players, a gradual return of all of their stars could prove to be highly important. Especially as it gives Boone a chance to have more experienced hands available for him. That’s important if he wants to avoid the situation that the Yankees had to face in the last game.