What the Yankees’ Aaron Boone said after the loss to the Guardians in ALCS Game 3

Q Their bullpen has been outstanding throughout the postseason. What have you seen from Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes in particular lately?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, I mean, the other team is good too and that’s their credit. I thought Thomas showed a really good shot against Weave to stop a couple of difficult throws, got back in the count, got the double, and then Noel obviously really got into a shot. They scratched and clawed their way back in. Thinking Clay was pretty sharp, I just left one there for Fry to pick up.

Of course it sucks to lose like that, but it’s kind of a classic game and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.

Q They have used Luke Weaver a lot this postseason. Do you think he showed signs of fatigue there?

AARON BOONE: I mean, playoffs. I found him pretty sharp overall. We thank them for making a pitch.

Yes, it’s that time of year. You try to save as many balls as you can and I thought he threw the ball pretty well overall and they caught him right there.

Q How worried are you about Ian Hamilton?

AARON BOONE: We’ll see. Yes, we’ll see what we have. I haven’t contacted you since he left the game.

Q After the Lane Thomas double, did you think about going to Clay Holmes at this point?

AARON BOONE: I mean, possible, but I felt like Weave was the guy and was comfortable where he was. The pitch count was right and I had a feeling he was the guy who could do it.

Q Is it also because Jhonkensy Noel struggled with change?

AARON BOONE: Not so much, more like Weave was our guy there, and I thought he threw the ball well and thought it was in the right order – like he wasn’t being taxed. He had a quick out there in the eighth and was pretty efficient up to that point until the Thomas hit.

I had chosen Clay in case he took a long time, but I didn’t feel like this was the right time to put him in that situation.

Q Are you just talking about the emotional roller coaster of this game after Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton went so deep?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, look, it’s a great game to witness. This was playoff baseball. Both teams kept coming up with haymakers and big offenses, big moments from two really good bullpens. They survived us tonight. They had one more good shot than us.

That’s part of it. Like I said, we’re ready to go tomorrow.

Q Anthony Rizzo was late. What do you think of the defensive problems there?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, the ones that bounce in between where you try to smother it a little bit and then throw the ball over the line, I think they just nailed it a little bit.

Q I’m wondering what you think about both of your guys hitting home runs against Emmanuel Clase in this situation?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, they were great fights. Judgey with two strokes believed he had a good shot up to that point and was getting some good swings. Then Big G obviously really centered one too. Yes, there are great attacks that give us an edge.

Q I know you’re trying to stay in the moment, but when you get home runs from these guys against this guy, do you allow yourself to say, “Man, we’re going to win a game?”

AARON BOONE: I get emotional. Like I think I pumped my right fist like I was fired up. But you’re in the middle of the game and it’s like you’re stuck with whatever comes next. But you can definitely feel the energy of some of these recordings.

Q Did you have the feeling that the bank perhaps also felt that we had this in the bag, so to speak?

AARON BOONE: Come on. No. Do you have that in your pocket? Stop it.

Q I was just wondering about the celebration in the dugout?

AARON BOONE: It’s the playoffs. There are ties and leadoff home runs, that’s what it looks like. You never have anything in the bag in the playoffs, no. You never take anything for granted. So no, but that’s how you celebrate big moments all the time.

Q That hit by Juan Soto before Aaron Judge’s home run, did you feel like they surrounded him in that hit?

AARON BOONE: No, not necessarily, no. That was the Gaddis thug, right? No, I don’t think he’s trying to trick him there at all. He tries to make pitches and not make a mistake, but I don’t think he makes pitches, no.

Q Is it a challenge to get rid of this game and move on without having a hangover effect tomorrow?

AARON BOONE: Right. That’s what we did great all year and what made this space great all year. We had some tough losses that we recovered from.

It hurts when you stay there like that, especially when you defend yourself against them like that. So you sit there for a minute, but tomorrow you can start.

Q What makes the Clubhouse so good?

AARON BOONE: I don’t know, but it’s a trait they’ve had all year. Whatever we went through, and I’ve said it again and again, we won the East, the best record, all of that, but we also had difficult moments throughout the year.

We had adversity and these guys didn’t shy away from anything. We’ve had tough losses in tough times and these guys are ready to give it their all every day and make it pretty easily and it’s the playoffs, man.

Such games are what you will experience when you get into an epic battle and sometimes find yourself on the losing side. You dust yourself off and get ready for the big day tomorrow.

Q What do you think of Clarke Schmidt tonight?

AARON BOONE: I thought Clarke was pretty good. He struggled a little with his command, but overall I thought he handled the contact really well.

Obviously Manzardo caught him on the 3-1 pitch and kind of missed the sweet spot there and got a pretty good hit on him, but I thought overall not quite sharp, but he did everything he had to do to to give us one He had a chance to win the game and I thought he did that by managing to keep the ball away from him.