The Yankees are chasing the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League Eastern Division. They went down to that stupid, if newly re-roofed, dome in St. Petersburg for a key 4-game series.
The Monday night game offered encouragement. Cam Schlittler was allowed to throw 101 pitches, going 8 innings, allowing just 1 run, 4 hits, and no walks. I love seeing "no walks" from Yankee pitching. He struck out 8.
The game was scoreless through 4 innings. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. With 1 out in the top of the 5th, Rays starter Griffin Jax walked Jasson Domínguez and Jazz Chisholm, and José Caballero hit a home run. The Rays pulled a run back, but Caballero hit another home run in the 8th, and Ben Rice hit one in the 9th.
Here's the weird part: Rays pitchers only allowed 3 hits -- all of them home runs. They also walked 12 batters, and struck out 17. Nevertheless: Yankees 5, Rays 1.
Attendance: 18,129. I guess a year playing in a reasonably accessible part of Tampa for a year and playing the Yankees again hasn't helped the Rays bring fans in, any more than, you know, winning did.
The Yankees weren't so lucky on Tuesday night. Will Warren allowed 6 runs in 4 innings, and Rays pitchers again struck out 17 Yankees. Rice hit another home run, but the Rays won, 8-4.
Attendance: 18,115. Almost exactly the same. Are the Rays simply closing off the upper deck, and filling the lower bowl? Maybe the Rays are followers of the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu, who supposedly said, "A bowl is most useful when it is empty."
The Yankees did not strike out 17 times on Wednesday night. Only 11. Gerrit Cole pitched 6 1/3rd innings, allowing 3 runs. Bur the Yankees stranded runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the 2nd inning and again in the 7th, and wasted a leadoff single in the 6th and again in the 9th, and that was it. Rays 3, Yankees 0.
Attendance: 19,373. The hell, Rays fans? You're in 1st place! You've got the best record in the American League! And these games are against the team you hate the most, the team that's fighting with yours for the Division title and possibly for the Pennant! I know it's Florida and it's Summer, and you don't want to leave the house, but it's all of the preceding, and it's in a dome, so there's air-conditioning!
Move the Rays.
So the Yankees needed to win on Thursday afternoon, the dreaded day game after a night game, just to get a road split against the team they're chasing, the bare minimum of what was needed.
With all the holes in the rotation, and with it being a day game, meaning even less rest for pitchers, Aaron Boone did pretty much the last thing he should have done: Used a "bullpen game." Paul Blackburn pitched the 1st 2 innings, and allowed a run.
But the Yankees scored 6 runs in the top of the 3rd, including a home run by Rice. Jake Bird allowed 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, but Austin Wells homered in the top of the 4th. Rice homered again in the 6th, his 28th of the season. He isn't replacing Juan Soto, he's replacing Aaron Judge.
Ryan Yarbrough pitched a scoreless 4th inning, and was credited as the winning pitcher. Camilo Doval got 2 outs in the 5th, Brent Headrick finished that inning but allowed a run in the 6th. Angel Chivilli, a rookie righthander from the Dominican Republic, pitched the 7th and the 8th without allowing a baserunner, and Tim Hill pitched a scoreless 9th.
In other words, Boone tried a bullpen game, and it worked, and it still have worked if the Yankees had only scored half as many runs: Yankees 12, Rays 4. Attendance: 18,255.
You know, if you look at all 4 games, as they would say in soccer, the Yankees "won on aggregate," 22-16. It doesn't look so bad. But the 1st 3 games were discouraging, and the middle 2 games were especially bad.
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The Yankees are 51-42, on a pace for 89-73. That might be enough to make the Playoffs, but it probably won't be enough to win the Division. They are 4 games behind the Rays, 5 in the loss column. They have to do better.
Injury updates were provided on 3 key players yesterday. Giancarlo Stanton has resumed running, which is a good sign. Carlos Rodón played catch yesterday, which is a good sign. And Brian Cashman said that Aaron Judge "will get follow-up imaging on his injured rib during the All-Star Break." There's not much encouragement there. Nothing new on the other injured starting pitchers, Max Fried and Clarke Schmidt.
Tonight, the Yankees start a series in Washington against the Nationals. They are 48-46, 7 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. Only the Mets are behind them in that Division, at 40-56, a pace for 67-95.
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