Boone says Holmes is only for emergency after fans blast his closer choice in Game 3

Sunday October 16, 2022

With one more loss, the New York Yankees will be done for the season. The Yankees lost a game that led most of the time to the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night. Manager Aaron Boone faces mounting criticism for not allowing Clay Holmes to close the game.

After he was blasted by fans over his wrong reliever choice, Boone defended his selection by saying that Clay Holmes is only for an emergency situation.

The Yankees blew a 5-3 lead in the ninth inning, which led to a 6-5 walk-off loss in Game 3 of the ALDS. Oscar Gonzalez, who was the hero of the Wild Card Series, hit the walk-off two-run single. The best-of-five series is 2-1 in favor of Cleveland. Game 4 is on Sunday night.

The job of the closer on Saturday went to right-handed rookie Clarke Schmidt. The choice raised eyebrows as Clay Holmes was the Yankees’ usual closer. However, he did not throw in Game 3 after pitching in the first two games on Tuesday and Friday.

Schmidt allowed the game-winning single. Following the uproar, Holmes missed the last two weeks of the regular season due to a shoulder injury, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that he didn’t want to utilize him on back-to-back days so soon after the injury.

Manager Boone said after Game 3:

“I mean, part of the thing with him being available for this series was not really in a back-to-back situation yet. He just hadn’t thrown any live or anything. So while he was pretty good today and I fully expect him available tomorrow, it just felt like we needed to stay away there.… It was really the emergency situation [only for Holmes to be available].”

But Boone didn’t explain what would be an “emergency situation.” Fans feel it was not worth keeping the best in the bullpen when a loss in the playoff game is now threatening to eliminate the Yankees and end their championship quest.

Even though Holmes wasn’t available, Trivino and Loaisiga only got three outs between them. However, the bigger problem is that Holmes said he was available to pitch Game 3, and he told the Yankees he was ready to go.

Holmes told MLB.com after Game 3

“I prepared today to do my job. Sometimes those decisions aren’t mine. I feel like I’m available to pitch. Whenever my name is called, I’m ready to go out there and give it everything I’ve got. They asked and I said I was good to go if needed.”

On the one hand, every player will say he is available for the playoffs, and the manager and coach’s job is to keep the players from hurting themselves. On the other hand, Boone said that Holmes was available, but only in an emergency. The ninth inning of Game 3 was not an emergency, so Boone said that Holmes was not available. Other players in the clubhouse were surprised that Holmes wasn’t used more.

Luis Severino, who started ALDS Game 3 also blamed manager Boone for failing to choose Holmes.

It requires a lot for players to criticize the manager and coaching staff in public, so the fact that Holmes and Severino did so after Game 3 is noteworthy. It’s one thing to lose a game because a reliever gets hit around. Another thing is losing a game and then having the players say they didn’t understand why the manager made the choices he did. It looks really bad for Boone.

In Game 4, when the Yankees’ season is on the line, they will give the ball to Gerrit Cole. Boone said Holmes will be available.

What do you think? Is Aaron Boone guilty?