The Yankees’ 10th-inning loss to the Tigers landed even harder after Aaron Boone admitted Paul Goldschmidt was available.
Boone was asked about the choice to stick with Oswaldo Cabrera in the key spot, and he confirmed Goldschmidt could have pinch-hit. Instead, he trusted Cabrera to finish the job. It didn’t work, and that decision now sits at the center of a game that already had enough strange edges to it.
The context matters here. The Yankees were dealing with a food poisoning situation that had already thinned the roster in ways that shaped the late innings.
Max Schuemann was sick and not available, which meant Goldschmidt would have had to play second or third if the game kept going after the at-bat. Greg Joyce noted that if Schuemann had been healthy, Goldschmidt likely would have hit in that spot.
Boone also could have gone a different route and lost the DH, allowing Amed Rosario to play third, something the Yankees did Sunday in Boston. That game still ended in a loss.
Spencer Jones was also ill, though he was at the game and eventually appeared in it. The whole thing turned into a mess of unavailable pieces and awkward contingency plans.
Still, the decision in the 10th is the one that will linger. Boone had a proven hitter on the bench in Goldschmidt and chose not to use him, even with the winning run at third and one out against Keider Montero. After the game, Boone said he had confidence in Cabrera to get it done there.
Paul Goldschmidt was available off the bench. Had confidence in Cabrera to get the job done there.
The Yankees also were without David Bednar, who missed the entire series on the paternity list. That pushed Fernando Cruz into two brilliant innings and left Camilo Doval with a tough assignment that he did not handle.
If this team winds up missing the postseason or losing the division by one game, there will be no shortage of painful losses to circle. But this one may be the one that gets the asterisk, because so much of it was shaped by circumstances outside the Yankees’ control.
Even so, Boone still had a chance to attack. He could have rolled the dice with Goldschmidt and tried to win the game right there instead of waiting on a bench bat to cash in the biggest run of the night.
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