The New York Yankees won their fourth consecutive series to open the year, but they dropped the final game of a three-game set to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night 5–2.
Despite not giving up a run over the first two outings, starting pitcher Marcus Stroman was finally batted around a bit over five innings. He gave up four hits, four earned runs, four walks, and struck out seven batters.
Unfortunately, after allowing two runners on base in the third inning, third baseman Jake Burger launched a homer to dead centerfield, traveling 425 feet.
Good News and Bad News For the Yankees
At this point, the Yankees were set back quite considerably, but the team showed resiliency and fought until the end, loading the bases with Aaron Judge up to bat. Judge had an opportunity to walk away the hero, but his streak continued on Wednesday, popping out to centerfield.
The team was efficient in the strikeout category, picking up six, but they struggled with runners in scoring position, and the bottom half of the order didn’t provide much support.
The bottom four batters only picked up one hit, courtesy of Jon Berdi, who’s hitting just .211/.250/.211 this season. The Yankees are excited about the prospects of getting DJ LeMahieu back, and he’s been working diligently to rehabilitate a significant bruise on his right foot.
Fortunately, he will travel with the team to Cleveland and Toronto over the next week, so there’s a strong indication he could rejoin the team at any point and slot back in at third base.
However, his spot in the batting order may change drastically, with Anthony Volpe taking over the lead-off spot on Wednesday and looking to hold onto it for good. Volpe has been red hot this season, hitting .372/.460/.581. He contributed two walks, a hit, and a run against Miami, which is exactly what the Yankees needed from him ahead of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
In fact, we got a small glimpse into what that combination would look like when Soto doubled to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning, driving Volpe after he walked to lead off the inning.
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There were a few positive takeaways from the performance, notably Volpe’s outing, and Luke Weaver’s efficient two innings, giving up one hit and zero runs. Victor Gonzalez also looked fantastic, pitching one inning and tossing seven pitches, lowering his ERA to 1.93.
Stroman will hope to bounce back in his next outing, limiting the flyballs and dotting the corners a bit more efficiently. It was a cold and humid evening in New York, and Stroman had previously pitched in Houston and in the Bronx last week during the afternoon with the sun out.
The Yankees look ahead to the Cleveland Guardians on Friday evening with Clarke Schmidt on the mound against Carlos Carrasco. Schmidt has pitched 9.2 innings this season but has given up 13 hits with nine strikeouts. Carrasco has produced seven hits and nine strikeouts over just eight innings with four walks. Both starters have something to prove, so it should be a competitive matchup as the Bombers look to continue their hot start to the season.