Last night was another bad night for the New York Yankees. It seems they just can’t win a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Although the score wasn’t totally lopsided, the loss nevertheless was disturbing. The Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was again hammered for more home runs. What is most concerning is that this seems to be becoming a systemic problem.
At the bottom of the first inning, Cole put down his first two batters but then gave up a two-run long ball to Ji Man Choi, his third homer off Cole this season. At the bottom of the second, Kevin Kiermaier sent one to the second deck of the right field at the Tropicana Field, and the Yankees were three runs behind in just two innings.
Meanwhile, the Rays Tyler Glasnow, that earns one-eighteenth of the salary that Cole earns, held the New York Yankees hitless until the sixth inning. The entire run support that the Yankees got in the game, came via the home run. Gio Urshela had a solo shot in the seventh and Luke Voit had his thirteenth home run, which was a 2 run bomb to far left field, with DJ LeMahieu at first. DJ was originally called out, but on review, it was overturned. Voit’s two-run shot made it 5-3 Rays. Although the Yankees rallied in the eighth they still fell short and lost their fifth game in a row against the Rays. For the Rays, they are now 4-0 at Yankees Stadium. Glasnow got the win, Cole the loss, and Castillo the save. Final score Rays 5 and the Yankees 3.
Negative takeaways from the game:
It is beginning to become concerning that New York Yankee ace Gerrit Cole is giving up home runs, lot’s of them. This year he has given up a home run in every start, for a total of 12 long balls. In his first eight starts in 2019 for Houston, he gave up on eight. Cole has been subject to giving up homers throughout his career, but this year he is ahead of his own record. Another problem Cole is having is that he isn’t getting run support, something he can’t control.
Cole who was 20-5 last year with an ERA of 2.50 with the Astros, has an elevated ERA of 3.51, a full run more per game with the Yankees, and that has to be attributed mostly to the home run. Also, in his first eight games this year he has gotten 10 more runs of support than he did last year, in the first eight games. Last year he also got deeper into games, pitching one more inning per game. Cole has struggled in all of his games, even the ones that he has won, and he is throwing more pitches as well.
The other problem that the Yankees are having, is that even though they are hitting home runs, they can’t get those knock out innings. Without small ball play, and getting men on base, the home run is less impactful. The Yankees are now 4.5 games behind the East Divison.
Positive takeaways:
Gio Urshela is improving his batting average, and last night hit his sixth home run of the year. He continues his solid play and defense. Luke Voit hit his 13th home run last night, and that ties Nelson Cruz of the Minnesota twins for the most home runs in all of baseball.
Last night, Miguel Yajure made his major league debut in relief of Gerrit Cole. The young man impressed and may become an important part of the bullpen going forward, for the Yankees, especially considering that they were unable to make a move to improve the bullpen, before the trade deadline yesterday. The young man pitched three innings of hitless ball. He struck out two and walked three.
The Yankees will face the Rays again on Tuesday and Wednesday night. It is extremely important that the Yankees win both of these remaining games, against the Rays. If they do they will shorting the lead of the Rays, if they don’t, with only a little over three weeks left to the season, they may not be able to regain the lead.