Yankees Struggle Against Dodgers

The Yankees began the official, though not numerical, 2nd half of the season by hosting the 2-time defending World Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. For a team riddled with injuries, it was not a good combination.

Gerrit Cole started on Friday night, and in 6 innings, he allowed 5 hits, no walks. He was brilliant. But the Yankee bats, depleted by injuries to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, couldn't hit, either. Jazz Chisholm singled with 2 out in the 2nd. Trent Grisham drew a walk with 2 out in the 3rd. In the 4th, Jasson Domínguez doubled, reached 3rd on an error on the throw to 2nd, and scored on a passed ball with Chisholm up.

In the 6th, Ben Rice singled with 1 out, and Cody Bellinger singled with 2 out. But Domínguez, having giveth a run, now taketh away a chance, by striking out to end the inning. So, through 6 innings, the Yankees were lucky to have a 1-0 lead.

Cole had thrown 92 pitches. That's usually enough for manager Aaron Boone to take a starting pitcher out, possibly on orders from general manager Brian Cashman. This time, he made the opposite mistake: He left Cole in for the top of the 7th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Cole hadn't walked anybody yet, but he started the inning by walking Mookie Betts. And then Max Muncy hit a home run.

As the great New York sportscaster Warner Wolf would say, "Turn your sets off right there." Three Yankee relievers allowed just 2 baserunners, and it didn't matter. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 7th. They looked like they might have something going in the 8th. Grisham walked with 1 out, and Rice doubled, but Grisham was thrown out at the plate. Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked, with Max Schuemann sent as a pinch-runner. Bellinger just got under a pitch, and it didn't quite go out, and Andy Pages caught it in center field. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th.

Dodgers 2, Yankees 1. I'd like to say this one is all on Boone, but the Yankees only needed to score 1 more run to at least send this game to extra innings.

The Saturday afternoon game was rained out, forcing a day-night, split-admission doubleheader for yesterday. The opener was a battle of aces. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was up to the task. He allowed a home run to Grisham in the 4th, and a double to Chisholm and an RBI single to Anthony Volpe in the 8th.

Schlittler was not up to it. He gave up 2 runs in the 3rd, including an RBI double by Shohei Ohtani. He gave up 2 more runs in the 5th, and, at 4-1, the game already felt over. In the 8th, Jake Bird allowed a double, 3 singles and a walk, and ended up with 5 runs charged to him. He should not be in the major leagues. The Dodgers won, 8-2.

So the nightcap became a must, to prevent a total humiliation, not quite on the same level as the Dodgers taking 2 out of 3 Yankee Stadium games in the 2024 World Series, but perhaps capable of preventing the Yankees from being taken seriously for the rest of this season.

Boone decided to go for a bullpen game. I shuddered. But Ryan Yarbrough pitched 2 2/3rds innings, Paul Blackburn pitched 2 1/3rd, and Brent Headrick pitched 2, so no runs through 7. With 2 outs in the 1st inning, Goldschmidt doubled and Bellinger singled, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

But Boone brought Fernando Cruz in to pitch the 8th, and he gave up a game-tying leadoff homer to Tommy Edman. After 2 walks, Boone got Cruz out of there, and brought in David Bednar, the closer. He got 5 outs, allowing just 1 walk. And Chisholm hit one out in the bottom of the 8th. Yankees 2, Dodgers 1, to salvage the finale, and restore some pride.

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And yet, the Yankees actually benefited from their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, being on a hot streak. They swept the Tampa Bay Rays 4 straight at Fenway Park. They have now won 13 straight games, and 18 out of their last 20. So the Rays now lead the American League Eastern Division by a game and a half over the Yankees, with the Sox having gotten back into the race, 6 games back.

That's a little good news. There was also bad news on the injury front: Aaron Judge probably won't be back before August 1, and Max Fried's 1st injury-rehab start, at Class AA Somerset, was a bit shaky. But Clarke Schmidt had his 1st batting-practice session, and it apparently went well.

Tonight, the Yankees begin another 3-game home Interleague series, this one with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Paul Skenes pitched yesterday, so the Yankees won't be facing him. As Bill Murray would say, So we've got that going for us, which is nice.