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The Yankees went with Isiah Kiner-Falefa over the rookie Oswald Peraza for the ALDS roster and Kiner-Falefa has continued his penchant for not being able to complete plays that he should in a 6-5 loss to the Guardians in Game 3 of the ALDS that brought the Yankees to the brink of elimination.
He went after Josh Naylor’s grounder in the first awkwardly and it turned into a run-scoring single and then with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, he made a good backhanded stop of an Andres Gimenez grounder. But with time to get Gimenez, Kiner-Falefa fired wide to first and Anthony Rizzo was unable to stay on the bag.
The play went for a single and extended the inning, and it came back to hurt the Yankees as pinch-hitter Will Brennan smacked an RBI single to make it a one-run game.
Kiner-Falefa then threw to the wrong base on Myles Straw’s bloop to left that Oswaldo Cabrera overran in the bottom of the ninth. The throw to third allowed Straw to go to second.
“I’m disappointed in myself,’’ Kiner-Falefa said. “I had an opportunity to come up with some plays to help the team win.”
On the Straw play in the ninth, Aaron Boone said he was surprised Straw initially stopped and looked ready to go back to first, which is why Kiner-Falefa threw to third, thinking there was no play at second.
Boone and the Yankees have insisted the metrics they have on Kiner-Falefa indicate he is among the better defensive shortstops in the league, but he’s shown a tendency to make miscues in key situations.
