The New York Yankees met up with the Washington Nationals tonight at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees’ Jameson Taillon faced the Nationals’ Patrick Corbin in the first game of a three-game set ending the Yankees longest homestand of the season. Although some of the names were the same, this is not the same team that won the 2019 World Series. The Nationals finished at the bottom of the NL East last season. The Nationals were coming off 3 straight losses to the Atlanta Braves, and the Yankees were coming off winning two of three against the Houston Astros.
In the first inning, Jameson Taillon faced off against the Nationals Trea Turner, who ground out to Miguel Andujar at first. Andujar was called up to replace Gio Urshela, who was injured in last night’s game against the Astros. Why the career 3rd baseman was playing first, I had no idea. Jost Harrison popped out to second. Juan Soto ground out for a fast inning for Taillon. DJ LeMahieu started off the bottom with a home run to right. Stanton gound out. Aaron Judge ground out. Gleyber Torres ground out to short, but the Yankees got the lead with the DJ home run. New York Yankees 1 Nats 0.
Josh Bell tied it up immediately in the top of the second inning with a home run of his own. Starlin Castro flew out to Judge in right. Kyle Schwarber walked. Yan Gomes had a two-run home run to put the Nationals up three runs. Yadiel Hernandez ground out. Victor Robles ground out, but the Nationals picked up three runs for the Nationals 3, the Yankees 1. At the bottom, Aaron Hicks had a line drive out. Gary Sanchez hit a homer to center. Clint Frazier flew out to center. In his 2021 major league debut, Miguel Andujar flew out to the warning track in center field to end the inning. Nationals 3 Yankees 2.
At the top of the third inning, Turner ground out to Wade at second. Harrison flew out to left, but Clint Frazier made another phenomenal play catching the ball at the warning track. Juan Soto struck out for a 1-2-3 inning for Taillon. At the bottom, Tyler Wade led off by grounding out to first with a flip to the pitcher for the out. Lemahieu hit to right for a single. Giancarlo Stanton almost hit another home run to right. Aaron Judge struck out to end the inning scoreless. Nats 3 Yanks 1.
Leading off the top of the fourth was Josh Bell, who ground out to Wade. Castro ground out. Schwarber struck out for 8 in and row for Taillon after the home run. At the bottom, Torres gound out. Hicks gound out to left, and Sanchez struck out as Corbin put down the Yankees in order. Nats 3 Yankees 2.
Leading off the fifth, Hernandez rolled back to Taillon. Gomez ground out, and Robles flew out to Hicks to end the half 1-2-3 for Taillon. Clint Frazier led off the bottom by flying out to center. Andujar ground out to second. Tayler Wade ground to first as they went down for the very fast inning for both pitchers. Nats 3 Yankees 2.
At the top of the sixth, with Taillon still on the mount, turner flew out. Harrison ground out. Juan Soto struck out with Taillon putting down the last fourteen Nationals in a row. At the bottom, it was the top of the lineup for the Yankees. LeMahieu started the bottom by getting his second home run of the game to tie it up. Stanton flew out to left. Judge flew out. Torres flew out to right to end the inning, but the New York Yankees tied it up at 3 apiece.
Bell led off the top of the seventh with Taillon still on the mound; he flew out to Judge in right. Castro singled. And that was the last pitch for Taillon. He was replaced by Wandy Peralta, who faced the lefty Schwarber who struck out. Gomes struck out, leaving a Nats on base. With Corbin out of the game, Kyle Finnegan struck out Hicks. Sanchez walked. A passed ball to Gomes allowed Sanchez to go to second base. Frazier ground out to short. Andujar flew out for far center, and the game remained tied at 3 apiece.
At the top of the eighth, Hernandez led off against Jonathan Loaisiga replacing Jameson Taillon. Hernandez doubled was Judge did not cleanly handle the catch for an error. Robles made it to first on another error for the Yankees in the same inning, Hernandez to third on the DJ error. Hernandez scored on the Turner single. Harrison homered to left for a 3 run homer and the 7-3 lead for the Nationals. Loaigia had allowed only 2 runs in his first 14 outings and now four runs in one inning. Juan Soto singled. Josh Bell struck out. Loaisiga was replaced by Luis Cessa facing Starlin Castro, who walked on four straight pitches. Schwarber, with two on and two outs, doubled as Soto scored another run, as the wheels have fallen off for the Yankees. Gomes reached on an error by Torres. Stevenson walked. Robles went down on strikes. Turner ground out but six runs scored in the inning. Nationals 9 Yankees 3.
Tyler Wade led off the bottom of eighth inning against Tanner Rainy; he walked. LeMahieu went down on strikes after going 3 for 3 and two home runs. Stanton, with a 12 game hitting streak, went down on strikes. Judge struck out for Rainy’s third strikeout of the inning. The Nationals blew the game open with 6 runs.
At the top of the ninth inning, Harrison led off by walking against Cessa still in there. Soto hit a homer to center for the Nat’s 11th run in the game. Bell lined out to LeMahieu fr the first out. Castro singled. Schwarber hit into the force for the second out. Gomes flew out to Hicks on Cessa’s 42 pitch of the game. With last licks on the line for the New York Yankees, Gleyber Torres faced Will Harris. Torres struck out swinging. Hicks walked. Sanchez, who homered in the third, flew out to the warning track in center. Hicks took second on defensive indifference. Frazier singled, driving in Hicks for the Yankees’ fourth run. Andujar ground out to end the game.
Final score Washington Nationals 11 and the New York Yankees 4. The winning pitcher was Finnegan, and the loser was Jonathan Loaisiga. The game looked good for the Yankees through seven innings, but then it all fell apart. The Nationals got 9 runs in the last two innings.
Tomorrow in a matinee matchup, game two will take place between these two teams at Yankee Stadium. Corey Kluber will face the Nationals’ Max Scherzer. The game will be televised on the YES Network, MASN, and MLBN out of market.