Cut Boone some slack: Reason for Gerrit Cole being pulled from Game 1 revealed

Ever since Aaron Boone accepted the New York Yankees managerial job, he has been a popular punching bag among fans. Some of the criticism he has received over the years has been warranted, and other criticism has not.

Boone led the Yankees to their first AL Pennant since 2009, but the Yankees came up short in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, losing in five games. While it wasn't Boone's fault that the Yankees lost, he did make several questionable decisions throughout the series - with a majority of them coming in Game 1 - that impacted the results.

The decision to insert Nestor Cortes into a difficult spot in the tenth inning of Game 1 after not pitching in over a month over the reliable Tim Hill is one that Yankees fans will harp on for a long time, and rightfully so, but there were other questionable decisions made by Boone earlier in the game that impacted the outcome.

One of the worst moves made in that game was Boone making the decision to pull his ace and reigning AL Cy Young award winner, Gerrit Cole, after he allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh inning in a game that the Yankees were leading 2-1. Cole had been dominant throughout the night, and only required 88 pitches up to that point. Despite that, Boone had seen enough.

The Dodgers didn't score in that seventh inning, but the decision to pull Cole forced the Yankees' high-leverage arms into the game earlier than they might've entered had Cole gotten the chance to get through the seventh. With that in mind, the Yankees might've been able to pull it out either in nine innings or in extras, so Boone was ridiculed for his decision to remove the ace of the staff from this start.

It turns out that Boone might not have had much of a choice when it came to pulling Cole.

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Aaron Boone deserves some slack for controversial Game 1 decision after reason for pulling Gerrit Cole was revealed

After the game, Boone just said, "You'll have to take my word for it," when asked why he thought Cole was done. That gave the impression that the Yankees skipper was not interested in hearing any criticism for his decision. Instead, he just didn't want to reveal that his ace was gassed.

Knowing now that Cole was gassed makes the decision look a whole lot better. I'm not sure why Cole started the inning to begin with if he was so tired, but it's a good thing that Boone didn't let it spiral out of control knowing that Cole didn't have it anymore. It's one thing to ride with your ace, but it's another thing to do so when he isn't going to be 100 percent. The Yankees decided that less-than-perfect Cole was not as good as Clay Holmes who relieved him, and in hindsight, they were right. The Dodgers did not score in the seventh inning.

Boone can absolutely be left off the hook for the Cole decision, but the Yankees still lost in large part because of Boone. The decision to start Jake Cousins in the tenth inning when his closer, Luke Weaver, had thrown just 19 pitches, was a curious one. The decision to turn to Cortes when he had Tim Hill available was even more curious. Both of those decisions proved to be incredibly costly. Instead of winning Game 1 and putting the pressure on LA, the Yankees lost that game and never really rebounded until it was too late.