Aaron Boone recalls fights with brother Brett before winning first matchup as coaches

As Aaron Boone’s pitchers tried to combat Bret Boone’s hitters, the jabs were metaphorical.

At one point, those Boone vs. Boone punches were literal.

Round One of the Boone Bowl — the first matchup between the Yankees manager and his big brother Bret, recently named Rangers hitting coach — brought back memories of two of the sons of Bob Boone, essentially baseball royalty, going at it in their younger days.

“We used to box when we were kids,” Aaron said before beating Bret’s Rangers 5-2 in The Bronx on Tuesday. “I used to wear the headgear, and he wouldn’t. So, picture I’m probably 6, he’s probably 10, and I popped him good one time. It kind of got him upset, and he took it to me pretty good.

“I’m starting to cry a little bit, and he’s like, ‘No, you can’t cry. We’re going to get in trouble.’

“Years later I was thinking: ‘We’re going to get in trouble? You’re going to get in trouble for beating up your little brother.”

The fight has become fairer over the years.

The two longtime big leaguers had matched up in their playing days but had not gone face-to-face as members of opposing coaching staffs until Tuesday.

The Rangers hired Bret as hitting coach on May 5 after firing Donnie Ecker to attempt to breathe life into a flatlining offense.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Bret Boone — who had no previous coaching experience but ran a podcast and was a three-time All-Star over 14 big league seasons — can bring new ideas to his hitters and help them get “more involved, invested watching the game.”

Aaron and Bret watched each other from opposite dugouts after meeting on the field to exchange lineups before first pitch.

The two were appreciative that the timing worked out so Aaron could have his four kids at the game and Bret’s two sons attended, an impromptu family reunion.

The timing also involved a mutual off-day Monday, when they went out to dinner together.

“He actually paid the bill last night,” Bret said.

Giancarlo Stanton is “toward the endgame of his running program,” though Aaron Boone did not know when the DH would begin a rehab assignment.

Stanton is “doing well,” Boone said, in his rehab from tendon injuries in both elbows. Boone said Stanton will begin getting some live at-bats “soon,” though he was not sure in what capacity Stanton would be getting those at-bats.

After Ben Rice took ground balls at third base before Sunday’s game — an interesting development for a positional group that is overflowing at the moment and yet does not have a true third baseman — Boone again downplayed the scene.

He said there is value to Rice, a catcher and first baseman, moving his legs at another position for athleticism reasons. He also said that “you never rule out anything,” leaving the door open for Rice to try the spot later this year.

“You always just want to stick someone at third, and it’s not that simple,” said Boone, himself a former third baseman. “I’ve seen him over there a couple times and I like how he moves over there and things like that, but it’s not much more than that right now.”

Rice went 2-for-3 with two RBIs — on a solo home run and sacrifice fly — on Tuesday night.

Devin Williams entered play having allowed a run in one of his past nine appearances.

The reliever was credited with a hold while pitching an inning, striking out two and allowing a hit on Tuesday.

Boone said “we’ll see” whether Williams would reclaim the closing spot that Luke Weaver, who picked up his sixth save in the Yankees’ win, has inherited.

“No plans right now,” Boone said.