The New York Yankees dropped Game Two of the ALDS yesterday to the Tampa Bay Rays in a 7-5 loss. After announcing that 21-year-old young star Deivi Garcia would be starting the game, the Yankees pulled him after just one inning. Granted, Garcia is young and he allowed a home run in that one inning of work, but it was completely unnecessary to pull him after just one inning.
The Yankees utilized the “opener” strategy yesterday, which is used for teams that don’t have many quality starting pitchers. That’s where the Yankees went wrong. Although he is young, Garcia is one of the top prospects in baseball and any of the 29 other teams would trade their top prospect for him. So even though he’s not an established pitcher in the big leagues yet, letting him go only one inning was not a good move.
The opener move by the Yankees almost looked like a “panic” move, as YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay described it. The Yankees have now put themselves in a position where for Game Four (which there definitely will be) Jordan Montgomery is lined up for that start. The Yankees took a gable with the opener move and it blew up in the faces. That was one of the main reasons why they dropped Game Two.
The only good that came from Game Two was that the bullpen was able to rest. Except for Ottovino, all high-leverage guys were not used. Chapman, Green, and Britton did not pitch so they are all on a day’s rest.
Tonight’s game is huge for the Yankees and Tanaka needs to pitch well. The first pitch is at 7:10 PM at Petco Park.