Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, right, cannot make the play on...

Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, right, cannot make the play on a ball hit by Chicago White Sox's Luis Robert as Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres, left, looks on during the first inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Friday, May 13, 2022. Credit: Nam Y. Huh

CHICAGO — After Isiah Kiner-Falefa mishandled a pair of seemingly routine grounders Friday night, Aaron Boone offered an alibi of sorts, saying the “soft” Guaranteed Rate Field infield might have had a role in those plays.

White Sox infielders, Boone said, also had their difficulties in the game, a 10-4 Yankees victory.

Kiner-Falefa wasn’t having any of it. “I have to make those plays,” he said before Saturday night’s game. “Period.”

Kiner-Falefa was acquired from the Twins in spring training with a reputation as a standout fielder, something he has been for the most part this season.

But he’s been in “a little fielding slump” of late, he said Saturday. In addition to the one error he committed Friday — he probably should have had  two — Kiner-Falefa committed two errors in Wednesday’s victory over the Blue Jays.

“They can come in bunches,” said Kiner-Falefa, who has committed five errors this season. “It happens, but this is weird for me. I have to be way better. I’m here for my defense. That’s what really frustrates me. I gotta make those plays. Gerrit could have went nine innings [last night]. I felt really bad.”

One person who didn’t seem to feel too bad about it was Cole, who earned the victory after allowing three runs — two of which came on a homer — and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Kiner-Falefa’s error on what looked like an inning-ending double play ball in the first inning Friday extended the inning, but Cole, who threw 28 pitches in the frame, got out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam by striking out Gavin Sheets and AJ Pollock.

After striking out Pollock to end the inning, Cole almost immediately pointed at Kiner-Falefa as if to say, “All good.”

Kiner-Falefa, who started a three-run rally in the second inning with an infield single, very much appreciated the gesture.

“It helped me out, definitely,” he said. “I was able to work a good at-bat my next time [up] and put a ball in play and scored a run. If Gerrit didn’t do that, who knows if I would have had any confidence in the box right there after a tough [inning before]. That really gave me the reassurance that they and he still believe in me.”

Cole said these things tend to balance themselves out. “It goes back and forth at some point,” he said. “Somebody’s going to have to make a diving play to get us out of a jam . . . This time I was given the opportunity to get us out of the jam. It was fun.”

Boone, a former big-league third baseman, took notice of Cole’s gesture toward Kiner-Falefa, who won a Gold Glove at third while with the Rangers in 2020,.

“As a defender, you pride yourself on helping your pitcher, whether it’s making the routine play or making an outstanding play,” Boone said. “Then you don’t make a play and all of a sudden we’re in a tough situation . . . I think Gerrit felt great about it because he knows how important all those guys are and have been. But as a fielder, that’s the worst feeling when you feel like you’re a part of letting a run in on a pitcher or something, so it’s good to see that. That’s part of being a team — there’s different points of the season where you’ve got to pick each other up.”

As for Kiner-Falefa’s “fielding slump,” it’s not a concern for Boone.

“He’s so dynamic and athletic out there, he’ll get through this,”  he said. “I’m not worried about it long term. He’ll get through this and his athleticism will continue to show up, as it has most of the year.”

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