New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe leads the American League in errors with 16, and is just one short of the highest MLB total of 17 committed by the Cincinnati Reds Elly De La Cruz. But his blunder in the ninth inning of game against the Boston Red Sox Friday, with the Yankees trailing 1-0, will not add to his error total.
In a way, it was worse. Volpe’s bizarre mental mistake nearly cost the Yankees another run. With Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman — who had not allowed a run or even a hit in his last 11 appearances covering 10 2/3 innings — coming in for the bottom of the ninth, a 2-0 deficit would have seemed insurmountable.
As it turned out, the 1-0 deficit was insurmountable anyway, as Chapman set down the Yankees in order, striking out Trent Grisham and Ben Rice to end the game.
But Volpe did not know that when in the top of the inning, with nobody out and the Red Sox Jarren Duran on second after a walk and a stolen base, the 24-year-old shortstop fielded a ground ball from Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela and — rather than throw to first for the sure out with Duran holding at second — whipped the ball pointlessly to second base.
what? pic.twitter.com/dmPEDffWlG
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 23, 2025
But Volpe, despite his numerous misplays, has had a staunch defender all season in Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who mysteriously praised Volpe last month as “bleeping elite.”
Friday was no exception, though Boone was forced to offer one of his most confusing defenses of Volpe yet, after the botched ninth-inning play that essentially gave the Red Sox what reporter Chris Kirschner of The Athletic called “a free base runner.”
“It’s obviously not the right play. It’s a little bit of a heady play, too,” Boone said, seemingly to contradict himself over the course of two sentences. “He almost caught a guy off in scoring position there, and then he doesn’t come around to score anyway. He makes a really good play on the contact play. Are we going to really dive into that one a lot? I mean, I get it. It wasn’t an out, but it’s kind of a heads-up (play). Almost got a guy napping.”
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Boone’s convoluted explanation left Yankee fans frustrated.
“What a word salad in trying to defend this,” wrote one on X (formerly Twitter) in response to Boone’s quote. “The fact that he’s saying are we really (going to) dive into it? You know maybe if this was the first time. No. But this almost occurs daily. So yes we are.”
“Boone is the worst manager in the league and it isn’t even close,” wrote another.
“Dumbest team in ball. And the manager defends it,” yet another fan posted.
Volpe achieved some partial redemption by throwing out Duran at home two batters later as the Boston outfielder attempted to score on a Connor Wong ground ball.
Nonetheless, the Yankees wasted the best start by slumping lefty starter Max Fried since June 25, when he allowed just one unearned run to Cincinnati in seven innings.
Since then, Fried allowed at least three runs, and as many as seven, in eight consecutive starts. But on Friday, he held the Red Sox scoreless on four hits over six innings.
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