Much of the criticism Aaron Boone gets from New York Yankees fans is unwarranted. His bullpen management, however, has been less than flawless, and Saturday's game brought another example of that. Trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Boone went to Ian Hamilton to try and keep the game close. By the end of the frame, it was 11-6 Athletics. Hamilton surrendered three of the four runs. Yankees fans could have predicted this outcome.
Hamilton issued a pair of walks and gave up a single while recording just two outs. Tyler Matzek gave up a pair of back-breaking runs in relief, but Hamilton was the one who opened the door for the A's to break the game open.
This is the second time in as many appearances that Hamilton has been brought into a big spot and failed to deliver. Boone repeated a past mistake in the process.
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Aaron Boone's overreliance on Ian Hamilton backfired again
For a good chunk of Hamilton's three-year Yankees tenure, he's been a solid reliever for Boone to turn to. This season, however, Hamilton has been a different guy. He allowed two runs while recording just one out in his last time out in what was a tie game in the eighth, and departed with New York trailing. The Yankees did come out with a comeback victory, but that should've been a sign.
Even despite his rough outing against the Padres, Hamilton had a solid 3.38 ERA in nine appearances. While that's all fine and well, he had issued eight walks in just 10.2 innings of work. Nobody denies Hamilton has electric stuff, but his ability to locate it has been missing this season. Bringing him into a big spot with his shaky command was something worth questioning, and sure enough, he walked a pair in his outing on Saturday.
Injuries to guys like Jake Cousins and Jonathan Loaisiga have shortened the bullpen slightly, but is there a reason Boone had to go with Hamilton in this spot? Tim Hill had thrown just one pitch in the seventh inning, why couldn't he have, at the very least, started the eighth? Even Devin Williams is coming off an encouraging outing his last time out, it feels as if he would've been a better option.
The Yankees would've had to have scored a run in the ninth to tie, and nobody will know whether they would've done that had the score remained the same, but going to Hamilton all but ensured that their challenge of coming back, especially against Mason Miller, would've been impossible. Hopefully, this will be the last time Yankees fans have to watch Hamilton in high-leverage for a while.