Yanks Drop 2 of 3 to Redbirds

George Lombard Jr. (left) and Aaron Judge

The  Yankees came home from their unusual weeklong stay in Chicago, and started an Interleague series with the St. Louis Cardinals. On Monday night, Cam Schlittler had the worst start of his young career, going just 3 innings, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks, although he did strike out 6. The bullpen was no better.

Not that the Yankee bats didn't try. Going to the bottom of the 5th, they were down, 6-0, but a single by Ryan McMahon and back-to-back home runs by Austin Wells (trying to show the Yankees didn't need to get a catcher at the trading deadline) and Trent Grisham made it 6-3.

Then McMahon and José Caballero led off the bottom of the 7th with back-to-back homers. After a Grisham double, Luis García Jr. hit his 1st home run as a Yankee, and it was Pinstripes 7, Redbirds 6!

But, as I said, the bullpen didn't get the job done. Angel Chivilli had been fantastic up to this point, but, as C.J. would have said on The West Wing, he compwetewy impwoded, allowing 6 runs on 5 hits and a walk, including 3 home runs. Cardinals 13, Yankees 7.

On Tuesday night, one of my nieces, a former high school softball and tennis player now studying to be a medical assistant, went to her first Major League Baseball game. (Regrettably, I've never had the money necessary to take her and her sisters.) After the previous night's slugfest, she saw a dandy of a pitchers' duel between the Yanks' Ryan Weathers and the Cards' Hunter Dobbins. Weathers pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and a walk, striking out 6. The bullpen was on this time, finishing a 6-hit shutout. Jazz Chisholm hit one out in the 2nd, and George Lombard Jr. hit his 1st major league round-tripper in the 5th. Yankees 2, Cardinals 0.

Good thing she went that night, not the night before, or the night after. Will Warren didn't pitch badly on Wednesday, going 5 1/3rd, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and a walk, striking out 5. And the bullpen held the Cards scoreless the rest of the way.

But the Yankees just didn't hit. They wasted an error that led to García reach base with 2 outs in the 1st inning, a leadoff double by the newly-acquired Heliot Ramos in the 2nd, a 1-out single by Wells in the 3rd, and a 1-out walk by McMahon in the 5th.

With 1 out in the 6th, Ben Rice and García walked, and Ramos was hit by a pitch to load the bases. This should have been the breakout inning. But Spencer Jones struck out, Chisholm worked a walk to force a run home, but McMahon struck out to end the inning.

And that was as close as the Yankees would get. In the 7th, Paul Goldschmidt doubled with 1 out, but Grisham popped up. Rice drew a walk, but García grounded out. With 2 outs in the 8th, Chisholm and McMahon drew back-to-back walks, bringing the great prospect Lombard to the plate as the go-ahead run, but he struck out. With 2 out in the 9th, Rice drew a walk, but Ali Sánchez struck out to end it. Cardinals 3, Yankees 1.

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The Yankees are 64-51, a pace to go 90-72 -- almost certainly, good enough to make the Playoffs; almost certainly also not good enough to win the American League Eastern Division. The Yankees currently trail the Tampa Bay Rays in it by 4 1/2 games, with the Boston Red Sox 5 back, the Baltimore Orioles 12 1/2 back, and the Toronto Blue Jays 15 back. In the all-important loss column, the Rays lead both the slumping Yanks and the surging Sox by 5, the O's by 13, and the Jays by 16.

Carlos Rodón will begin a rehab assignment with Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. Giancarlo Stanton took some swings against him the preceding Monday. And Cody Bellinger "has been doing some outdoor running while also hitting and throwing." It sounds like those men should be back in about 2 weeks.

Aaron Judge "has been cleared to begin light activities," while Clarke Schmidt, according to Aaron Boone, was "expected" to play catch yesterday. This suggests an end-of-August return for them.

Tonight, the Yankees start a 3-game home Interleague series with the Atlanta Braves. Tonight's game is at 7. Saturday is Old-Timers Day, with the ceremony at 1 and the game at 3. The Sunday game is at 1:30. All games will be on YES.

Yankees Sink Pirates 2 Out of 3

The Yankees closed a homestand with an Interleague series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs' ace, Paul Skenes, had pitched on Sunday, so the Yankees avoided facing him.

Ryan Weathers started on Monday night, but allowed 5 runs, and didn't get out of the 5th inning. The bullpen pitched shutout ball the rest of the way, though, including Angel Chivilli: The Dominican righthander, who turns 24 next week, was picked up in a trade with the Colorado Rockies this past January. Wearing Number 57, he got his 1st win as a Yankee by finishing the 5th inning and pitching a hitless 6th.

Jazz Chisholm had 2 home runs and 5 RBIs. Austin Wells and José Caballero each had 2 hits, and Caballero added 2 RBIs. The Yankees won, 8-5.

The Tuesday game was postponed due to rain. That set up an odd doubleheader for the Yankees, as Gerrit Cole was set to pitch the opener, while Max Fried came off the Injured List to pitch the nightcap. I was concerned that Fried might have been put back in the rotation too soon, as Cole seemed to be.

Over the 1st 6 innings, Cole looked great, taking a perfect game into the 5th inning, while striking out 8 batters. Then he allowed a single and a home run. With 2 out in the 7th, he had allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and no walks, striking out 11. Then he gave up another home run, and was losing, 3-0.

Ben Rice tied the game in the 7th, with his 30th home run of the season. But, after saving the Monday night game, Fernando Cruz fell apart in the 10th inning this time, and the Pirates won, 5-3.

But Fried was brilliant. He was allowed to go only 5 innings, throwing 57 pitches. He allowed a leadoff single in the 1st, and a leadoff walk in the 2nd, and that was it: 1 hit and 1 walk. He struck out 7. The bullpen allowed 2 hits and 2 walks the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, the Yankees scored 2 runs in the 7th inning, on a walk to Cody Bellinger, a double by Jasson Domínguez, and a single by Anthony Volpe. Yankees 2, Pirates 0. Paul Blackburn pitched the 7th and the 8th, and was awarded the win. So the Yankees took 2 out of 3, and were 1 run away from a sweep.

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With 60 games left in the regular season, the Yankees are 2 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division. Their 15-game winning streak snapped -- but leaving us wondering what their new method of cheating is -- the Boston Red Sox are 7 back. The Baltimore Orioles trail by 10, and the Toronto Blue Jays by 13 1/2.

The Yankees begin a roadtrip tomorrow night, with 3 Interleague games with the Philadelphia Phillies, followed by a week in Chicago: 4 against the White Sox, and 3 Interleague games against the Cubs.