CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Yankees’ comeback hopes were dashed by a Guardians walk-off homer in the 10th inning of Game 3.
While the team from New York still holds a 2-1 series lead, there was much to discuss ahead of Game 4 on Friday. Here is what Yankees manager Aaron Boone had to say after Game 3. Transcript courtesy of MLB:
Q. Your bullpen has been outstanding all postseason. What did you see from Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes in particular late?
AARON BOONE: Yeah, I mean, the other team is good, too, and credit to them. I thought Thomas put a really good at-bat on Weave to kind of lay off some tough pitches, got back in the count, hits the double, and then obviously Noel really got into one. They scratched and clawed their way back in. I thought Clay was pretty sharp and then just left one up that Fry was able to elevate.
Sucks losing like that, obviously, but kind of a classic game, and we’ll be ready to roll tomorrow.
Q. You’ve used Luke Weaver a lot this postseason. Do you think he was starting to show signs of tiring there?
AARON BOONE: I mean, playoffs. I thought overall he was pretty sharp. Credit to them for getting into a pitch.
Yeah, it’s that time of year. You try and preserve as many bullets as you can, and I thought overall he threw the ball pretty well, and they got him right there.
Q. How concerned are you about Ian Hamilton?
AARON BOONE: We’ll see. Yeah, we’ll see what we’ve got. I haven’t followed up since he left the game.
Q. After that Lane Thomas double, did you consider going to Clay Holmes in that spot?
AARON BOONE: I mean, possible, but I felt like Weave was the guy and felt good with where he was. Pitch count was in line and felt like he was the guy to get it there.
Q. Is it also because Jhonkensy Noel had struggled with changeups?
AARON BOONE: Not so much, more just Weave has been our guy there, and I thought he was throwing the ball well and thought he was in line — like he wasn’t taxed. He had a quick out in the eighth there, was pretty efficient up to that point to the Thomas at-bat.
I had Clay going just in case he got long, but I didn’t feel like that was the case to bring him in in that spot.
Q. Just talk about the roller coaster of emotions in this game after Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton go deep like that?
AARON BOONE: Yeah, look, amazing game to witness. That was playoff baseball. Both sides just kept coming with haymakers and big at-bats, big moments off of two really good bullpens. They outlasted us tonight. They had one more good swing than us.
That’s part of it. Like I said, we’ll be ready to roll tomorrow.
Q. Anthony Rizzo came in late. What did you think of the defensive hiccups there?
AARON BOONE: Yeah, the ones that in between hop where you’re trying to smother it a little bit and then the ball down the line, I think just beat him to the spot a little bit.
Q. I wonder what you think about your two guys getting homers on Emmanuel Clase in that situation?
AARON BOONE: Yeah, those were big time at-bats. Judgey with two strikes thought he had a good at-bat up to that point, got some good swings off. Then obviously Big G really centered one, too. Yeah, great at-bats there to give us a lead.
Q. I know you try to stay in the moment, but when you get homers from those guys off that guy, do you allow yourself to say, man, we’re going to win a game?
AARON BOONE: I get in the emotion. Like I think I threw a right fist pump, like fired up. But you’re right in the game, and it’s like — you’re kind of staying with what’s next. But you certainly feel the energy of a couple shots like that.
Q. Did you feel maybe the bench also might have felt we’ve got this in the bag, so to speak?
AARON BOONE: Come on. No. Got this in the bag? Stop it with that.
Q. I just wondered about the celebration in the dugout?
AARON BOONE: It’s the playoffs. You have tying runs and go-ahead homers, that’s what it looks like. You never have anything in the bag in the playoffs, no. You never take anything for granted. So no, but you’re going to celebrate big moments all the time like that.
Q. That Juan Soto at-bat before Aaron Judge’s homer, did you get the sense they were pitching around him in that at-bat?
AARON BOONE: No, not necessarily, no. That was the Gaddis at-bat, right? No, I don’t think he’s trying to pitch around him at all there. He’s trying to make pitches and not make a mistake, but I don’t think pitching around, no.
Q. Is there a challenge in getting rid of this game and going forward and not having a hangover effect tomorrow?
AARON BOONE: Right. This is what we’ve been great at all year and what that room has been great at all year. We’ve had some tough losses that we’ve bounced back from.
That stings when you get left there like that, especially after you battle back against them like that. So you sit in it for a minute, but we’ll be ready to roll tomorrow.
Q. What makes that clubhouse good at doing that?
AARON BOONE: I don’t know, but it’s a trait they’ve had all year. Really whatever we’ve gone through, and I’ve said it over and over again, we won the east, best record, all that, but we had tough moments all year, too.
We’ve had adversity, and these guys haven’t flinched at really anything. We’ve had some tough losses when we’ve been in the midst of some tough stretches, and these guys come in ready to roll every day and are able to flush it pretty easy, and it’s the playoffs, man.
You’re going to have games like this when you get into an epic battle and sometimes you’re on the losing end. You dust yourself off and get ready for a big one tomorrow.
Q. What did you think of Clarke Schmidt tonight?
AARON BOONE: I thought Clarke was pretty good. He was battling a little bit with his command, but overall I thought he managed contact really well.
Obviously Manzardo got him on that 3-1 pitch and kind of missed down in the sweet spot there and put a pretty good at-bat on him, but I thought overall not totally sharp, but did everything he needed to do to give us a chance to win the game, and I thought he did that by managing how they hit the ball off him.
