The New York Yankees entered Monday night knowing it was a must-win game in many people’s eyes and ultimately played one of their worst games in recent memory.
They lost 5-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the ALDS with ace Cam Schlittler on the mound, while committing four errors, three of which came in the very first inning.
The Yankees scored both of their runs on solo home runs from Ben Rice. Outside of that, the team recorded just two other hits, building off its one-hit performance in Game 1.
Aaron Boone’s Controversial Decision
While the bats weren’t hot outside of Rice, Yankees manager Aaron Boone made a highly unusual decision in the seventh inning when the Rays had a left-handed pitcher on the mound.
Boone let all three left-handed hitters scheduled to bat in the inning face the lefty instead of using the right-handed bats he had available on the bench. All three hitters made outs.
“Aaron Boone let all three lefties bat in the seventh inning against a lefty pitcher that had to face three batters,” Neil Keefe of ‘Keefe to the City’ posted. “Not one reporter asked him why.”
Aaron Boone let all three lefties bat in the seventh inning against a lefty pitcher that had to face three batters.
Not one reporter asked him why.
— Neil Keefe (@NeilKeefe) October 6, 2026
Boone Under Fire From Yankees Fans
As expected, New York fans did not take lightly to Boone’s decision, especially since he often relies on analytics when it comes to pitching and hitting matchups.
“We supposedly rostered so many hitters to play the matchups, too,” a fan said.
Someone else added, “They were down 3, but Boone was managing like they were down 10 in a game in May. Just atrocious.”
“Thought the same thing when Boone loves the righty-lefty thing and doesn’t do it,” a fan shared.
One more person commented, “Did you expect any different? Boone never gets hard questions and doesn’t even have legit reasons either.”
Yankees’ Aaron Boone Under Fire for Decision in ALDS Loss to Rays