Boone better, set to return this weekend

NEW YORK — Aaron Boone felt something was wrong.

“I guess I was having more episodes this winter of just kind of getting up and feeling real light-headed and almost like at times was going to pass out and just having more days of fatigue on simple matters,“the New York Yankees manager said Friday. “So that caused me to want to reach out and just go get checked up.”

Boone had open heart surgery on March 26, 2009, while he was a player with the Houston Astros, a procedure to correct a swelling of the aorta. The condition had been first discovered when he was in college.

He underwent yearly checkups since and said electrocardiograms this winter came back good, with no change, But when Boone was monitored for several weeks, he was found to have a heart rate as low as 30-39 beats per minute, well below the 60-100 considered normal for adults.

So he left the Yankees on Wednesday to have a pacemaker inserted at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida.

Boone was discharged Thursday and hopes to return to the team — and possibly the dugout — on Saturday or Sunday after passing Major League Baseball’s novel coronavirus protocols.

“Me and my new buddy are doing quite well,” he said during a Zoom news conference Friday.

Boone’s pacemaker is to keep his heart rate from dropping below 50-60 or from rising too high. He said his only health restriction was he can’t raise his left hand over his head for about a month following the surgery.

“I feel great,” Boone said. “I can’t believe how good I feel. It makes me really glad that I got this done because I certainly the last couple of months have not felt anywhere close to how I felt this morning, even yesterday morning getting out of the hospital. So really excited about it, excited to get back.”

GERMAN PITCHES

Domingo German pitched two scoreless innings for New York in his first game since being banned in 2019 under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. He struck out four and allowed one hit, a double by Wilson Ramos.

German spoke with his Yankees teammates last week and issued a public apology the next day.

E-ROD RETURNS

Boston ace Eduardo Rodriguez pitched 22⁄3 innings in his first start since missing last season because of health concerns. The lefthander was 19-6 in 2019, then was sidelined by heart inflammation caused by COVID-19. Rodriguez struck out two and gave up one run and two hits.

Michael Chavis hit his second home run for Boston. Mike Brosseau hit his second homer for Tampa Bay.