The New York Yankees dominated the first half of game one in a doubleheader against the New York Mets on Friday afternoon. After taking a 4-0 lead in the second inning, the Mets quietly rallied and took a 6-4 lead in the 6th inning when relief pitcher Chad Green blew a potential save.
Entering the series on a five-game losing streak, the Yankees desperately needed to start off with a victory. Utilizing a band of misfits toys as their lineup, most weren’t confident that the Yankees could pull off a win. Those people would’ve been correct, despite a fantastic outing by starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery.
FINAL SCORE: 6-4
New York Yankees bad news and good news:
GOOD NEWS:
The offense for the Yankees wasn’t necessarily their problem against the Mets in game-one. Leadoff hitter Luke Voit went 3-for-4 with two runs. In the two-hole, Clint Frazier was 2-for-2 with three RBIs and a walk. However, behind them the offense fell off significantly. The only other Yankees who managed to get hits were Brett Gardner, Mike Ford, and Estevan Florial. They collectively had 10 strikeouts, further proving that the reserves aren’t as gritty as previously thought. Interestingly, the Yankees sat Mike Tauchman to give him rest going into the second game of the doubleheader.
Frazier was the most impressive aspect of the Yankees on offense, but Montgomery was fantastic as a starter for the first few innings of the game.
Before giving one run up in the fifth inning, he had struck out six batters and allowed just four hits.
BAD NEWS:
The bad news was predominantly in the latter half of the batting order. From Miguel Andujar down to Tyler Wade, they only recorded one hit and struck out six times. Their lack of efficiency significantly hurt the Yankees’ chance at pulling out a win. In addition, relief pitcher Chad Green gave up five runs in one inning. Those five runs came off three separate homers.
The Yankees’ pitching continues to degrade and sparks more suggestions that they should be active during the trade deadline on August 31. General manager Brian Cashman is undoubtedly looking at his options and considering what to do.
There’s also suspect that DH Luke Voit came up gimpy after running to first base. An injury to Voit would significantly restrict the Yankees from surviving the next few days.
They desperately need DJ LeMahieu to return to the lineup. Slugger Aaron Judge is back on the injured list and will be out for multiple weeks. Starting shortstop Gleyber Torres will also be missing 3-6 weeks with hamstring and quad issues.