The end of June could not come any sooner for the Yankees, and yet they still managed to turn in a disappointing performance. They surrendered a 3-1 lead in the sixth, combining tough luck with lacking execution and some confusing decisions. This is just the first of a four-game series, but they really should have won this one.
The first three innings of this crucial matchup could not have started any better for Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer. He was perfect through three, but not without the help of home plate umpire Austin Jones expanding the zone. Judging by his stuff, it doesn’t look like Scherzer’s right thumb is bothering him at all—he was dotting the zone, with or without the help of the umpire.
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Trent Grisham represented the first Yankee baserunner with a nice piece of hitting, slapping a single the other way to lead off the fourth. After an incredible battle between Aaron Judge and Scherzer ended ignominiously with another ticky-tacky strike call to retire judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr. continued his hot streak by depositing Scherzer’s worst pitch of the game into the bullpen to make it 2-0 Yankees after three and a half. Jazz is really showing his potential since coming off of the IL, carrying the offense since his return.
Carlos Rodón, for his part, bent but didn’t break. He struck out two in the second, but otherwise relied on his defense to get the outs. His biggest jam came in the fourth. With runners on first and third with two outs in the fourth, Rodón bore down and struck out Will Wagner (Billy Wagner’s son) to end the inning. The Blue Jays had put together some strong at-bats against Rodón, making him labor through four, but he hadn’t given up a run through five.
The next Yankee baserunner was Anthony Volpe roping a double down the line with one out in the fifth, but ended up stranded. J.C. Escarra and DJ LeMahieu both ripped line drives, but right at Blue Jays. With the Jays’ athletic trainer and Jon Schneider both checking in on Scherzer after the Escarra line drive and Scherzer hovering around 70 pitches, it always seemed like Scherzer would be done after this inning—his protests aside.
The Yankees had some trouble of their own when Trent Grisham was taken out of the game in between innings for left hamstring tightness. Jasson DomÃnguez entered the game while Cody Bellinger slid over to center. Ernie Clement scored in the fifth on a groundout by Vlad Guerrero Jr., advancing from first on a groundout and a passed ball to come around to score. While Rodón gave up only one run through five, an economical sixth would’ve been greatly appreciated. The bullpen will be taxed with Fernando Cruz to the IL again with an oblique strain.
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Brendon Little, a lefty, replaced Scherzer to start the sixth. After Jasson DomÃnguez reached first on what should have been ruled an error, Aaron Judge was intentionally walked in a bizarre decision that brought Chisholm up to the plate. Jazz struck out though, bringing up Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton ripped a single up the middle, bringing the Martian home from second and making it 3-1 Yankees in the sixth.
The Jays immediately threatened after Davis Schneider smacked a leadoff double in the sixth, and Aaron Boone pulled Rodón for Mark Leiter Jr. Myles Straw then reached on a ball Volpe actually stopped in the hole, but threw away on his attempt to nail Schneider at third. Nathan Lukes pinch-hit for Jonatan Clase, and did his job by singling to bring home Schneider.
With runners still on third and first with none down, Leiter Jr. struck out Wagner with a nasty splitter for a crucial out. But in the next at-bat, Escarra wasn’t able to corral a pitch that allowed Lukes to advance to second and eliminate the double play. Then, on a grounder to short, Volpe snared the ball but really should have eaten it, instead throwing to first and allowing the runners to move up. That marks the second ball Volpe misplayed in the inning, and the game was tied with runners still in scoring position.
For his part, Escarra had two crucial passed balls this game that came at big spots. He followed that up with a catcher’s interference to load the bases with one out. Guerrero Jr. ripped a single down the line off of Jonathan Loáisiga to make it 5-3 Jays, although George Spring was nailed at third.
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The sixth was incredibly frustrating—poor defense in crucial spots, poor managing in letting Rodón go batter to batter just for the leadoff hitter, and the inability of the bullpen to maintain a multi-run lead in an important game will drive anyone crazy.
After a shut down inning by Loáisiga in the seventh, Cody Bellinger brought the Yankees to within one with a long home run off of Mason Fluharty in the eighth. There was some interesting managing from Jon Schneider—after Bellinger’s blast, Judge was intentionally walked for the second time with no outs, and advanced on a bizarre sac bunt by Jazz. Chad Green was then brought in and immediately walked Stanton, letting Ben Rice face a righty. Rice gave it a ride, but the hit and run was on, which prevented the runners from tagging as Myles Straw snared the liner. Volpe sent a ball of his own into the gap that Straw was also able to track down. If the Yankees didn’t have bad luck they’d have no luck at all.
After an easy Tim Hill shutout inning, Escarra and LeMahieu promptly made outs to bring DomÃnguez to the plate as the final out against Jeff Hoffman in the ninth. While DomÃnguez wrapped a single into center field, Cody Bellinger was not able to bring Jasson home as he just got under a meatball of a pitch to leave Judge on deck.
This was far from the worst loss of the year, but it certainly was one of the dumbest games of the season. Sloppy defense, weird decisions (why was the hottest hitter on the team bunting? Why was Paul Goldschmidt not hitting for DJ in the ninth? etc.) and bad luck all combined for the kind of frustrating game that’s becoming all too common. At least Max Fried is on the mound tomorrow against Kevin Gausman on Canada Day, meaning the first pitch will be at 3:07 EST.
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Box Score
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