The New York Yankees, back home at Yankee Stadium, lost their fifth game in their last six games, and that was coming off a ten-game winning streak. The shocker is that they lost the game allowing only three Miami Marlin hits. As in their last loss, the Yankees again committed four costly errors, allowing the Marlins extra outs.
With only two games left in the regular season and the playoffs starting on Tuesday, the only momentum the Yankees have is losing and playing sloppy baseball. The bright spot in the game was that the New York Yankees’ pitching was outstanding, allowing just the three hits. J.A. Happ in the first inning with two outs, walked two batters, the Marlins Garrett Cooper then homered to right, and just like that, it was 3-0 Marlins. That was the only mistake that Happ made. He continued to pitch the next four innings, not allowing another run. Happ pitched much better than the stats on the game would suggest.
At the bottom of the first inning, manager Aaron Boone no longer holding frustration in from the recent poor play, erupted and got himself thrown out of the game right off the bat. Aaron Judge, who has had a career of being struck out on bad calls due to his size, took to the plate in the second at-bat of the game. With two strikes on Judge, umpire John Tumpane delivered one of the worst called strike threes in recent memory. The slider off pitcher Alcantara was ankle-high, yet called a Judge out. Judge showed frustration, while Boone chirped from the dugout. But, when Tumpane called another bad strike on Aaron Hicks, who followed Judge, Boone wasn’t going to have it, and he got thrown out. He came bursting out of the dugout with an expletive-laced rant against the young umpire. With no fans in the stands, the exact language could be easily heard.
With bench coach Carlos Mendoza now managing the game, he tried to find a way for the Yankee to regain the lead. That happened as the Yankees did get within one run. In relief of Happ, Jonathan Loaisiga pitched two clean innings. Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman had clean innings as well.
At the bottom of the eighth inning, the Yankees managed to tie the score at three apiece when Judge, with his second hit of the game, singled in a run. The score remained tied causing extra innings. At the bottom of the tenth, the Yankee’s fourth error of the night caused pitcher Chad Green to lose the game. A botched rundown by Higashioka, between home plate and third base, saved the Marlins the third out. A sac fly followed that, and the Yankees lost their second game in a row.
The Yankees now have the major league record of the most errors committed in the regular season (47). New York Yankee’s manager Aaron Boone said after the game:
“There’s plenty of time,†manager Aaron Boone said. “We control everything. If we go play really good baseball, we can be champions. We’ve got to play better, clearly, but that’s in our hands right now. We don’t need anyone’s help. We just have to go out and do what I know we’re capable of doing.â€
For the Miami Marlins, the win against the Yankees, and with the loss by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Marlins captured their first berth in the playoffs since 2003. Tonight the Yankees will again face the Marlins at the Stadium, with Deivi Garcia on the mound. The last game of the season on Sunday will most likely be a bullpen game for the Yankees.