Aaron Boone may have made the weirdest and worst excuse for the Yankees losing a ballgame.
New York fell 2-0 in its American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros on Thursday night at Minute Maid Park. The Yankees have struggled mightily in the two games, striking out a whopping 17 times in Game 1 and 13 times in Game 2.
But it wasn’t the strikeouts or being unable to score with runners in scoring position that Boone thinks led to the 3-2 loss. It was the roof at Minute Maid Park being open.
Yes, the roof. Not leaving five men on base and not going 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
In the top of the eighth inning down a run, Aaron Judge came to the plate with a man on. Judge launched the ball to right field, but Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker reeled it in at the wall to end the threat.
“Who would have thought, I think the roof open kind of killed us,” Boone told reporters, per SNY. ‘I think it’s a 390(-foot) ball. … I didn’t think he smoked it like a no-doubter, but it felt like his homers to right.”
Bold of Boone to say that when, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Lang, Boone’s flyout would be a home run in just one ballpark: Yankee Stadium. No wonder he thought it felt like one of Judge’s home runs hit to right field. Not to mention the Astros also were playing in the same conditions.
We’ve gone from Boone saying his players are “savages in the box” to “the roof open killed us” in a span of a few years.
The best-of-seven series now shifts back to New York for Games 3, 4 and 5. Game 3 against the Astros is set for Saturday at 5:07 p.m. ET.
