Two games against the Astros, two blown late-inning leads. The lead disappeared in the seventh and Houston took the lead in the eighth in both games. How annoying. Even more annoying is the way the Yankees screw up the most basic stuff each game. Every game there’s an dopey error or a bad baserunning decision. Every single game.
“It’s got to be better, especially when you’re playing a really good team, and you’re up against a really good pitcher. You’ve got to do the little things that allow you to win ballgames,” Aaron Boone said to Coley Harvey following last night’s loss. “The bottom line is, we’re really close to playing a good brand and a complete game.”
WELL ACTUALLY, the Yankees played their sloppiest game of the season last night, and all the mistakes contributed to the loss. If you have to keep saying you’re really close to doing something, you’re not actually close to doing it. The Yankees have to clean up the sloppy mistakes to beat teams like the Astros. It is imperative. Here are tonight’s lineups:
New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. DH Luke Voit
4. SS Gleyber Torres
5. 1B Greg Bird
6. 3B DJ LeMahieu
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Tyler Wade
LHP James Paxton
Houston Astros
1. RF George Springer
2. 2B Jose Altuve
3. LF Michael Brantley
4. SS Carlos Correa
5. 3B Yuli Gurriel
6. DH Tyler White
7. 1B Aledmys Diaz
8. C Max Stassi
9. CF Jake Marisnick
RHP Collin McHugh
Another warm and sunny day in Houston, and the Minute Maid Park roof is open. Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm ET and you can watch on the YES Network locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy the ballgame.
Injury Updates: CC Sabathia (knee, heart) will start Saturday’s game. That is the first day he is eligible to be activated off the injured list … Giancarlo Stanton (biceps) has started taking swings now that his ten-day shutdown period is over … Aaron Hicks (back) has started swinging a bat. He’s doing tee and soft toss work in addition to throwing and running … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) played catch today for the first time since being shut down. Here’s video. As you can see, it was not the most intense throwing session. Twenty-five throws at 60 feet. Andujar said he felt better than expected, and he is tentatively scheduled to throw again Friday. He might even swing a bat that day as well … Gary Sanchez is out of the lineup with calf tightness. He first felt it following Monday’s game and the Yankees put him through some tests, which came back fine. They’re giving him two straight days off (tomorrow’s an off-day) as a precaution. Sanchez is available tonight.
Roster Move: The Yankees optioned Jonathan Loaisiga to Triple-A Scranton following last night’s game and they called up right-hander Joe Harvey today, the team announced. It is Harvey’s first big league call-up. He is a short reliever, not someone who can soak up innings in long relief. I imagine Harvey is going back to Triple-A when Sabathia is activated Saturday.