New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone wasn’t silent about the incident in which Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora referred to the intentional pitch to Aaron Judge.
MLB has opened an investigation into recent comments by Cora, who suggested that pitcher Brayan Bello may have intentionally pitched near (or behind) New York Yankees star Aaron Judge during their weekend matchup. However, after the investigation, MLB decided not to sanction Cora or the Red Sox for the incident that occurred on September 14.
When asked about Cora’s lack of punishment, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was over the incident and focused on the future. However, he took the opportunity to throw a subtle hint at his team’s eternal rivals.
“I feel like we’re past this weekend. Chances are, we’re not going to play them anymore this year. We’ve got too many important things going on in front of us to really get caught up in that,” Boone said via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
Context of the Yankees-Red Sox incident
During the game that sparked controversy, Gerrit Cole hit Rafael Devers with a pitch in the first inning before intentionally walking the slugger in his next at-bat. Cora interpreted this as a sign that Cole hit Devers on purpose to avoid pitching to him.
In the sixth inning of the same game, Bello threw a pitch that went past Judge. MLB investigated Cora’s comments after the game, which suggested Bello’s actions were intentional, though no wrongdoing was ultimately found.
The Yankees’ and Red Sox’s Road to the postseason
Boston is currently out of the wild-card race, four games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final playoff spot in the American League. On the other hand, the Yankees hold a three-game lead atop the AL East. Boone made it clear that New York is focused solely on the World Series race, rather than a matchup with a team that likely won’t see action in October.