The Yankees fell flat on Tuesday afternoon in a quiet 5–0 loss to the Detroit Tigers, who made easy work of a team that’s largely relied on big bats to cover up early-season pitching struggles.
This time, there was no offensive spark to hide the flaws.
Tarik Skubal Silences Yankees’ Bats
Detroit left-hander Tarik Skubal entered the day looking for a bounce-back start, and he got just that against a Yankees lineup that couldn’t figure him out.
Skubal tossed six scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing just four hits. The Yankees never really threatened. Once Skubal exited, Brant Hurter picked up where he left off, tossing three shutout frames of his own, allowing only two hits and fanning three more.
It was a clinic on how to keep a power-hitting team off balance.
Carlos Carrasco Hits a Wall
On the other side, the Yankees handed the ball to veteran Carlos Carrasco, and it was more of the same—just not in the good way.
Carrasco gave up three home runs and four earned runs total over just 4.1 innings, ballooning his ERA to 7.71 on the season. While his velocity is holding steady in the low 90s, he’s simply not missing bats or limiting damage. After allowing six hits and walking two, it’s fair to wonder how long the leash is.
With Clarke Schmidt expected back in the coming days and Will Warren showing flashes of promise, Carrasco could be staring down a demotion to the bullpen—or perhaps an outright release if the Yankees decide the experiment just isn’t working.
A Rare Power Outage
The Yankees managed just six hits on the afternoon, struck out nine times, and walked only once. Paul Goldschmidt was the lone standout, going 3-for-4 and continuing to show signs of life at the plate after a sluggish 2024 season.
Aaron Judge also tallied two hits, but the rest of the lineup went ice cold.
Austin Wells had a particularly rough game, striking out twice and watching his average sink to .189. Even Jazz Chisholm Jr. has hit a wall, batting just .196 through the early part of April despite showing good power in spurts.
The Yankees will try to salvage the series on Wednesday afternoon with Max Fried toeing the rubber against Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty. Fried is still settling into form, while Flaherty enters with a sharp 2.38 ERA and fresh off a dominant performance.