St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino tosses out ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium
St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino tosses out ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium before the Yankees’ June 4 game vs. Cleveland.
MIAMI – Remember that heady, post-MLB trade deadline optimism around the Yankees – a euphoria that dated all the way back to Thursday night?
The last of those party balloons burst Sunday, as the Miami Marlins completed a three-game sweep.
“Everyone in this room, we have really high expectations and we’re not meeting them right now,” said Cody Bellinger after Miami’s 7-3 afternoon win at Loan Depot Park.
Occupying third place in the AL East, the Yankees are heading to Texas to face a Rangers team trying to squeeze them out of a now-tenuous wild card spot.
“It’s getting to be gut-check time. It’s getting late,” said manager Aaron Boone evenly. “I’m confident we’re going to get it together but…it’s empty until we start doing it.”
Aaron Judge (strained flexor) could return to Boone’s lineup as early as Tuesday night, but saving the Yankees requires more than their slugging captain’s presence.
“I wouldn’t say there’s concern,’’ said Ben Rice. “But I think a little sense of urgency would be good for us.”
Luis Gil’s lackluster return to Yankees’ rotation
In his 2025 debut, Luis Gil struggled with command and lasted just 3.1 innings, while the Marlins flaunted some of their young pitching talent they refused to deal at the deadline.
After yielding a leadoff homer to Trent Grisham, right-hander Edwin Cabrera dazzled through six innings, yielding just one more hit and striking out seven Yankees.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s two-run homer cut Miami’s lead to 6-3 in the seventh, but a hefty portion of Yankees’ fans among Sunday’s sellout crowd of 34,601 had nothing left to cheer.
A day earlier, Eury Perez blanked the Yanks on two hits through six innings, in a game that featured Chisholm’s infamous baserunning blunder on pop fly.
“I feel like we’re pressing a little bit,” Chisholm said Saturday, suggesting his questionable plan to take second base (had Xavier Edwards purposely dropped Paul Goldschmidt’s pop up) was one example.
“Maybe at times,” Boone said in agreement of Chisholm’s assessment. “I thought we went through a week defensively where we were pressing a little bit.”
Yankees’ lost weekend in Miami
A forgettable Yankee weekend began Friday night, taking leads of 6-0, 9-4 and 12-10 (in the ninth) of a crushing 13-12 Marlins victory, where the entire trio of newly acquired relievers stumbled.
Following a 2-0 Yankee loss Saturday, Gil was charged Sunday with five runs on five hits and four walks, with two of those inherited runs scoring on Kyle Stowers’ three-run homer off lefty Brent Headrick.
“No real command,” Boone said of Gil’s 77-pitch effort, though Gil was encouraged by the movement and feel of certain pitches, vowing to make the necessary adjustments and “start helping out this team.”
After taking home the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2024, Gil still finished last year with a 5.15 ERA in his last 15 games.
In spring training, Gil was sidelined by a strained lat, compromising a Yankee rotation that was about to lose ace Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery.
Yankees’ August sense of urgency
Gil’s impending return off the injured list allowed the Yankees to deal for relievers Camilo Doval, David Bednar and Jake Bird without adding a starter.
But the thin nature of the Yanks’ rotation doesn’t leave much margin for error (or injury). Depth-wise, Ryan Yarbrough would be the next man up, and he’s still rehabbing an oblique strain.
Meanwhile, the Yankees are a poor 18-27 since June 13, with their once comfortable AL East lead a distant memory.
“Love this group of guys,’’ said Bellinger. “I feel like we have a lot of talented baseball players in here. We’ve just got to play better.’’