The New York Yankees entered the first game of the doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday afternoon with elevated confidence and momentum. After defeating Philadelphia in the first game of a four-game series, the Yankees deployed starting pitcher J.A. Happ to take on their opponent.
Happ, who was thrashed and his first outing against the Orioles on July 30, giving up four earned runs over four innings, had an even worse performance against the Philadelphia Phillies. In just three innings pitched, he allowed three hits, four earned runs and walked six batters.
The Yankees took an early 3-0 lead and looked the part of their seven-game winning streak. However, poor defense and pitching put them in a deep hole before they could claw their way out. Giving up four runs in the third inning and six runs in the sixth inning, the Yankees simply gave up and decided to bury their troubles before the second game of the doubleheader.
FINAL SCORE: 11-7
Here’s your New York Yankees good and bad news from the blowout loss to the Phillies:
GOOD NEWS:
There was very little good news to extract from the Yankees’ blowout loss to the Phillies: the one positive, DJ LeMahieu. Over three at-bats, LeMahieu has three hits bringing his batting average to .459 and slugging percentage to .649. He has been stellar this season, similar to his performance in 2019.
Aside from LeMahieu’s day, Brett Gardner hit his third homer of the season. He only has four hits on the year, and three of them are long balls. He is finally getting back into offensive shape, which was needed considering the position battle the Yankees have instituted in left field.
Aaron Judge also had his turn at the plate, launching a three-run homer in the 7th inning down 11-4 to bring the Yankees within four.
Judge’s 2020 stats, so far:
7 HR | 17 RBI | .308 AVG | .372 OBP | .897 SLG | .521 wOBA |249 wRC+
BAD NEWS:
The bad news was everything else. From defense, pitching, to a majority of the hitters, the Yankees struggled in every facet of the game. Happ only lasted three innings, allowing four runs, and Nick Nelson, who pitched just 1.2 innings, allowed seven hits and six earned runs. One noticeable deficiency was Happ’s awful number of walks. He allowed six batters to get on base through walks.
Back-up catcher Kyle Higashioka also had a tough outing behind the plate. An error on a force out at home plate allowed the Phillies to score two additional runs. The Yankees will look to bounce back in the second game of the doubleheader.
Shoutout to Angel Hernandez for calling a terrible strike on Mike Ford for the second out in the seventh inning.