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Yankees Recap
·3 min read

Series Recap: Motor City malaise; Tigers sweep Yankees

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DETROIT, Mich. — Being swept by the Detroit Tigers for the first time since 2000 was bad enough but the way the New York Yankees did so was equally mind-boggling and frustrating. They couldn’t hit with RISP (2-for-25). The fielding was a joke. Manager Aaron Boone made some dubious moves. It was a team that played like it didn’t care and they were swept by a club that is actively tanking. Even with a banged-up lineup, there was no excuse for playing like that. This squad needs to stop believing that they’re actually going to turn it around and actually man up and do it.

GAME 1

This was the best game of the series and it was pretty frustrating. The 3-2 loss in 10 innings was fairly stupifying. Like, Gio Urshela walking on three balls, stupifying.

Gerrit Cole wasn’t dominant but he essentially accomplished what he needed to do. Cole tossed six frames, scattered six hits, walked one, and fanned five. His lone blip was an RBI single by Jeimer Candelario in the third inning.

Providing the punch for a punchless lineup was Rougned Odor. Odor collected four hits on the evening. In the fifth inning, Odor took Casey Mize deep to right for the equalizer.

During the tenth inning, the source of Yankee offense came via a passed ball by Tigers backstop Jake Rogers, which enabled Aaron Judge to score the go-ahead run.

Yet, in the bottom half of the tenth, rather than sending Aroldis Chapman back out or literally anyone, Boone opted for Justin Wilson and his bum hamstring and 6+ ERA. Mind you on the pitch prior he had Robbie Grossman struck out but on a full count, you can’t groove a meatball down the pipe. Alas, Wilson did exactly that and blew the game.

GAME 2

Incredibly, the Yankees actually led this game at one point. Not incredibly, their lone run came on a double-play ball by Miguel Andujar with the bases loaded in the second stanza. His defense didn’t help him either but Deivi Garcia pitched like the Yankees should’ve traded him two years ago. It all added up to an ugly 6-1 defeat.

The turning point in this contest came during the bottom of the second inning. Garcia plunked Jonathan Schoop. Nomar Mazara singled to center. With two down, Akil Baddoo walked. Then, rather than flipping the ball to Gleyber Torres at second base or just eating it, on a ball hit by Willi Castro to second, Odor threw the ball past first base and allowed two runs to score.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the details, like Brett Gardner playing a double into a triple in the fourth frame, or Gary Sanchez thinking there were three outs in the eighth inning.

GAME 3

This 6-2 loss was flat-out ugly and careless. They made Tarik Skubal look like Mickey Lolich. The Yankees still couldn’t hit. Couldn’t pitch. Couldn’t field. Couldn’t run the bases. Abysmal.

Michael King wasn’t great. Nestor Cortes Jr., somehow back on this roster in 2021, because, sure, why not, was not much better.

Somehow Miguel Cabrera, who homered off Roger Clemens in the 2003 World Series, that’s how old he is, scored from first base on a double to left by Mazara in the first frame.

During the third inning, the Tigers plated four runs with the help of an error by Urshela and two errors by Torres. Pretty lackadaisical stuff.

Even when the Yankees did something right, it went oh so wrong. During the eighth inning, Torres helped snap a team series 0-for-20 with RISP, notching an RBI single to right. Yet, the ensuing batter Sanchez, who singled to shortstop, took a wide turn for some reason on the wide throw by Zack Short and was caught up for the third out. Inexcusable.

The Yankees had bases loaded in the ninth inning but Judge, after swinging at two pitches five feet off the plate, sat on a hanger for strike three to end the game.

ON DECK

At 29-24, the Yankees return home to the Bronx to take on the Tampa Bay Rays for a four-game series at Yankee Stadium, starting Monday afternoon.

Pitching probables, Rich Hill vs. Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow vs. TBD, Shane McLanahan vs. TBD, TBD vs. TBD.