NEW YORK — Aaron Boone stood by his most-scrutinized reliever again Sunday, and this time the pushback came from inside the Yankees fan base with a sharpness the manager rarely draws.
Camilo Doval pitched the sixth inning Sunday and gave up two runs, both unearned, on two hits and a walk. He entered with the Yankees already trailing 4-0. The frame turned messy fast, with a leadoff double, an error by shortstop Anthony Volpe on a chopper, and a popped-up bunt that dropped between the mound and shortstop to load the bases.
The result: Yankees lost 6-1 to the Twins.
Boone leaned on that sequence to defend his reliever. He framed the damage as bad luck rather than bad pitching.
“I know nobody likes hearing it, but he’s throwing the ball really well,” Boone said.
The manager also waved off the idea that a trip to Triple-A might help Doval reset his command against left-handed hitters.
“The bottom line is he’s got to be part of our solution here,” Boone said. “We’re up against it a little bit from an attrition standpoint.”
The numbers behind the backlash
The frustration has a statistical spine. Doval carries a 4.67 ERA across 39 appearances for the Yankees, a mark that does not even reflect the eight unearned runs he has allowed over his past three games.
The split that fuels the criticism is the platoon gap. Right-handed hitters have been nearly helpless against him, but left-handed hitters have battered him for a .388 average and a .627 slugging percentage in 67 at-bats.
Doval’s own explanation focused on attacking the zone rather than reinventing anything.
“I think the lefties, you’ve got to attack the zone,” Doval said. “You’ve got to be able to execute and attack the zone. You can’t lose faith in yourself, even when you’re not getting the results against lefties. (I) just want to be able to keep attacking and being as consistent as possible.”
Remarkably, the reliever said he feels better than ever despite the results.
“In my career as a pitcher, I’ve never felt this good,” Doval said.
Boone’s Doval defense draws the slap
After Boone insisted that Camilo Doval has been throwing the ball really well, the popular account That’s Baseball, Suzyn, who claimed to be Michael Kay’s co-host on ESPN, fired back on social media with a line that spread quickly: “Either he’s lying, or he can’t evaluate pitching.”
The account paired the jab with two recent clips of Yankees broadcaster Paul O’Neill describing how lifeless Doval’s cutter has looked. It was a blunt rejection of the manager’s read on a pitcher whose numbers keep sliding.
That reaction landed hours after a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins in front of 39,155 fans at Yankee Stadium, a defeat that handed Minnesota its first series win in the Bronx since 2014.
The clash matters because it captures a widening gap between how Boone talks about his roster and what Yankees fans are watching night after night. New York has lost nine of 10, and the manager’s message of shared responsibility is running into a slump that keeps producing the same ugly outcomes.
A defense that keeps handing games away
The insider’s dig also fits a broader breakdown that reaches well past one reliever. Katie Sharp noted that the Yankees have allowed 29 unearned runs over their last 15 games, the most by any Yankees team in a 15-game span since 1935.
Volpe’s miscue Sunday was the club’s 20th error in that same stretch, a total that has drawn on-air criticism from Suzyn Waldman.
“You know, this is what everyone is talking about,” Waldman said. “This is why this team is getting booed right now, and why people say they’re not focused. That was their 20th error in their last 15 games.”
The offense has cratered in tandem. Playing without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees managed three hits over seven innings against Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, who threw seven scoreless frames and struck out nine.
Ryan became the first Twins pitcher to throw seven shutout innings at Yankee Stadium since Johan Santana in 2005. Starter Ryan Weathers, pitching through the effects of food poisoning, was charged with four runs in a four-plus-inning outing.
Fans reject Boone’s message on social media
The insider account was not alone. Boone’s comments drew a wave of angry replies from Yankees fans who see the manager as part of the problem rather than the solution.
One fan pushed back directly on Boone’s belief that everyone can turn it around together.
@YankeesMIKE2408 wrote: “Aaron Boone should teach a course on the Art of Gaslighting. He tells blatant lies and falsities with such confidence, it really is impressive.”
@NYCSportsSizzle commented: “This is laughable at this point even if this is coming from the front office it’s time for Steinbrenner to actually make a change at the end of the year if we don’t win again. It’s the same thing every year with Cashman and Boone no contact no situational hitting no consistency.”
@_the6thman sought regime change: “Honestly, I stopped getting mad at these answers. The time to move on from this regime is way past due. At this point, these answers do make me laugh like you gotta respect the commitment to the bit.”
One fan pushed back directly on Boone’s belief that everyone can turn it around together.
“You know he’s not wrong. He is throwing the ball well. But the pitching part that goes with throwing a baseball. Has not been good,” @GoYanksGo4 wrote.
Another Yankees fan zeroed in on the contradiction in Boone’s reasoning about Doval.
“Delusional. If he’s part of the solution and part of the problem, then there is no solution,” @Christophe19128 posted.
Some Yankees fans pointed to the captain’s own words about focus and turned them back on the dugout.
“Ur captain said the teams not focused that starts with you BOONIE,” @MatthewJun84107 wrote.
Others simply refused to take the manager at his word.
“No one likes hearing it because it’s a lie,” @BryanExMachina replied.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
