Yankees Survive Frustrating Series In Cincy

The Yankees played an Interleague series with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. It was very frustrating.

Aaron Judge hit a home run in the 1st inning to stake Allan Winans to a 1-0 lead on Monday night, but it didn't last. Winans is a typical Brian Cashman pickup: The righthander from Bakersfield, California turns 30 in August, didn't make the major leagues until just before turning 28, and had a grand total of 8 major league appearances, with a 1-4 record, a 7.20 ERA, and a 1.575 WHIP before the Yankees claimed him off of waivers this past Winter. There was no good reason to acquire him. And here, he was starting -- because Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman, intended for the starting rotation, are injured.

Making his Yankee debut, wearing Number 62, Winans wasn't terrible, but he was bad enough, going 4 1/3rd innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits -- but no walks. And the bats didn't help him or the bullpen: After Judge's homer, the Yankees did not score again, despite runners on 1st & 3rd with 1 out in the 2nd, a leadoff double by Cody Bellinger in the 3rd, 1st & 2nd with 1 out in the 5th, and 1st & 2nd with nobody out in the 8th. Reds 6, Yankees 1.

Carlos Rodón started on Tuesday night, and he was fantastic: 6 innings, non runs, 4 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. Thanks to a leadoff home run by Ben Rice and a 2-run triple by Anthony Volpe in the 4th, he left the game with a 3-0 lead.

Aaron Boone should have left him in to pitch the 7th. But he'd thrown 88 pitches, and Cashman wouldn't let Boone leave him in. Instead, Jonathan Loáisiga came in, and let the Reds tie the game. In the top of the 9th, home plate umpire Mark Wegener made a bogus strike call on Jazz Chisholm, leading to him striking out swinging. As Chisholm took the field in the bottom of the 9th, he was still yelling at Wegener, who threw him out of the game.

In the 11th inning, thanks to the "ghost runner" rule, the Yankees got a run on a groundout and a wild pitch. But Mark Leiter Jr. couldn't get a single out, and the Reds won, 4-3.

This made the Wednesday night game a must-win. Max Fried pitched like he knew it: He went 7 innings, allowing 1 run, unearned, on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. He is now 10-2 -- 8-1 after Yankee losses. On that basis, he is already drawing comparisons to the 1978 season of Ron Guidry.

Chisholm redeemed himself with a home run. Trent Grisham and Jasson Domínguez each got 4 hits. Yankees 7, Reds 1, to salvage the finale of a frustrating series in Cincy.

*

Believe it or not, we are now at the halfway point of the regular season: The Yankees' next game will be the 81st out of 162. In spite of a recent slump, they lead the American League Eastern Division by half a game over the Tampa Bay Rays, 3 over the Toronto Blue Jays, 7 over the Boston Red Sox, and 12 over the Baltimore Orioles. In (Cliché Alert) the all-important loss column, the Yanks lead the Rays by 1, the Jays by 3, the Sox by 8 and the O's by 12.

Tonight, they begin a home series with the Athletics:

1901 Team born in Philadelphia

1955 Moved to Kansas City

1963 Threatened to move to Dallas

1964 Threatened to move to Louisville

1968 Moved to Oakland

1978 Very nearly moved to Denver

1979 Threatened to move to New Orleans

2025 Moved to Sacramento

2028 Scheduled to move to Las Vegas

Not our problem.