Aaron Boone is an expert at handling the media, and he provided another masterclass recently when asked about the New York Yankees’ remarkable comeback win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
After being no-hit through seven innings, the Yankees rallied with six runs over the final three frames, including three hits and two earned runs off Seattle closer Andres Munoz.
The loss was the latest in a series of crushing losses for the Mariners, with catcher Cal Raleigh griping that Munoz was not only tipping his pitches, but that the Yankees were sending signals back to their batters.
“He was tipping it every time at second base,” Raleigh said, via The Athletic. “Obviously, they weren’t making it very discreet, I guess is the word. It’s part of the game. It’s our job. We should have known about that going into the series. That made it really hard there at the end.”
Mariners manager Dan Wilson disagreed that Munoz was tipping pitches, but video suggests otherwise. Boone’s recent response to a direct question, while hilarious, also suggests they knew the closer was tipping.
“Munoz was? I don’t know,” Boone said, barely able to control his smile. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about that.”
Boone knows what we all know, but it’s savvy to avoid acknowledging it. First and foremost, he’s protecting his players from potentially being plunked later on down the line, and second, he doesn’t want to openly violate MLB’s unwritten rules.
In the end, it’s really an issue the Mariners have to figure out.
