As everyone expected, the Yankees knocked around the very good at baseball Michael Fulmer and got shut down by the no longer good at baseball Anibal Sanchez and Jordan Zimmermann this series. The offense no-showed — this was Zimmermann’s first scoreless start since April 20th of last season — and the Yankees lost Wednesday’s soggy series finale 2-0. They still managed to go 6-3 on the nine-game homestand. I’ll take it.
The Amazing Disappearing Offense
Like I said, I really wish the Yankees had added another bat at the trade deadline. Yes, the guys in the middle of the lineup (Aaron Judge, specifically) need to be better, but Matt Holliday hasn’t squared up anything other than Anibal Sanchez cement mixer in weeks, and Todd Frazier doesn’t move the needle at all. There should be first base and designated hitter at-bats available. I figured it would take two weeks after the deadline for this to become obvious. It took two days.
Anyway, Zimmermann came into this start with a 5.69 ERA (5.49 FIP) on the season, so of course he tossed seven scoreless innings. It probably would have been eight scoreless had the skies not opened up and forced a three hour and eleven minute rain delay after the seventh inning. The Yankees had chances against Zimmermann. Really great chances. Let’s check in on their ability to get the runner in from third with less than two outs:
Second and third with two outs in the second? Frazier popped up. Runners on the corners with one out in the third? Judge struck out and Gary Sanchez grounded out. Runner at first with no outs in the fourth? The next three batters (Holliday, Chase Headley, Frazier) struck out looking. Second and third with no outs in the sixth? Gregorius popped up, Holliday popped up, Headley struck out. Runner at second with no outs in the eighth? Judge struck out, Sanchez grounded out, Gregorius struck out. You’d think someone would get a sac fly by accident at some point, but no.
Sadly, this is not isolated to this game. It’s been happening for a few days now. The Yankees failed to get a runner home from third with no outs in Tuesday night’s game. Same thing on Sunday. (Or was it Saturday? I forget.) Remember the first game of the Rays series? The Yankees were about to strand Brett Gardner at third following his leadoff triple in the ninth. It took the Adeiny Hechavarria-Tim Beckham miscommunication for them to score that inning. Brutal.
One of the final 13 batters the Yankees sent to the plate reached base, and that was a Jacoby Ellsbury infield single. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position overall. This’ll pass. It always does. The Yankees and every other team go though a brutal RISPFAIL stretch like this every season, but that doesn’t make this any less annoying. I really hope they go get a bat though. Can’t bank on a Judge rebound and the guys on the disabled list getting healthy to fix everything. Wait for Holliday to turn it around and you might be waiting the rest of the season.
Six Solid From Tanaka
You’re not going to believe this, but that six-start sample of Masahiro Tanaka pitching poorly in day games (14.81 ERA in 20.2 innings) was not predictive. Crazy, I know. Tanaka pitched well again Wednesday afternoon, holding the Tigers to two runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk in six innings. He now has a 3.25 ERA (3.12 FIP) in his last ten starts and 63.2 innings. That’ll work.
Funny enough, Tanaka’s afternoon started with three straight hits. On the first five pitches too. Ian Kinsler jumped on the first pitch for a line drive single to right, Jim Adduci got a ground ball through the left side on the third pitch, and Justin Upton yanked a ball inside the third base bag on the fifth pitch. Upton’s double drove in Kinsler and set the Tigers up with runners on second and third with no outs.
Given the way the Yankees have been swinging the bats, that felt like the game right there. In the first inning. A hit might have been too much to overcome. Tanaka buckled down and managed to strand both runners. He struck out Miguel Cabrera and Nick Castellanos, then got Victor Martinez to fly out to center. See? The Yankees aren’t the only team that can’t get a runner in from third with no outs. /sobs
The second run flat out should not have happened. Mikie Mahtook drew a two-out walk, then James McCann dunked a little single into center field. What should have happened: Mahtook goes first-to-third and McCann stops at first with two outs. Instead this happened:
baseball is hard pic.twitter.com/OVcQ4fPsow
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) August 2, 2017
Sure, why not. Mahtook scored all the way from first on a soft little single to center field thanks to that bobble. Who knows, maybe Tanaka gives up a three-run bomb to the next batter had Ellsbury fielded the ball cleanly and prevented Mahtook from scoring. That’s possible. But man, such sloppy play. Especially from Ellsbury who at this point is a defense-first player. At least Tanaka continued his recent steadiness. More of that, please.
Leftovers
Immaculate Inning for Dellin Betances! He pitched following that long rain delay and struck out the side on nine pitches in the eighth. He’s the sixth Yankee to throw an Immaculate Inning. The last to do it? Brandon McCarthy. Never would’ve guessed. Ivan Nova, A.J. Burnett, Ron Guidry, and Al Downing are the other Yankees to do it. Pretty neat. He added another strikeout in a scoreless ninth.
Two hits for Ellsbury and one each for Gardner, Judge, Sanchez, Gregorius, and Headley. The definition of seven scattered hits. The 6-7-8-9 hitters went a combined 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts. The Yankees need another bat. You might have heard me say that once or twice before.
And finally, Gardner went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. That’s the longest of his career and the longest active hitting streak in baseball.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
For the box score and updated standings, go to ESPN. MLB.com has the video highlights and we have a Bullpen Workload page. Here’s the loss probability graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The homestand is over and the Yankees are now heading out on an eight-day, seven-game road trip through Cleveland and Toronto. Sonny Gray is making his Yankees debut in Thursday night’s series opener against the Indians. That’ll be fun. He’ll be opposed by Corey Kluber. That won’t be fun.
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