The New York Yankees fell to the Detroit Tigers on Friday evening in an unfortunate turn of events. Again, the Yankees’ offense struggled considerably, tallying 12 strikeouts, with nine of them coming with the first three batters in the order.
DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge combined for nine of the 12 strikeouts, representing a disappointing outing for a team that desperately needs to string together a few solid performances.
Last week, the Yankees enjoyed a six-game win streak but have lost three of their last four games and have another contest against the Detroit Tigers at 4:10 PM on Saturday afternoon.
However, it’s not just their offense that is struggling now, their pitching is also giving up timely runs to help their opponents.
Good news and bad news for the Yankees:
In the loss to Detroit, the Yankees were simply running out of relief options, so they looked to former Met Justin Wilson to help finish off the game in the 10th inning.
However, Wilson gave up a two-run homer to Robbie Grossman, blowing a one-run lead for the Yankees.
“Any time you’re not pitching well, it’s not easy,” Wilson said. “I’m mentally tough. I’ve done it for a while, so I know what I can do. I just need to get back on the right track.”
The Yankees were resting Jonathan Loaisiga and still aren’t comfortable pitching Aroldis Chapman through two innings, so they had little choice but rely on Wilson, who currently hosts 6.08 ERA the season, to finish off the game.
You could make the argument that skipper Aaron Boone made a mistake utilizing Wilson, who has struggled this season. He could’ve rolled with Albert Abreu or Michael King to finish off the game, two players Detroit hasn’t seen much of yet. Grossman has experience against Wilson and was waiting for his pitch, so it is fair to place some of the blame on Boone, who should’ve chosen a better match-up.
“I’ve faced him before, I know what he’s got,” Grossman said. “I kept telling myself we’re just one swing away from winning this game.”
Ultimately, the Yankees need to get their offense going, and scoring just three runs shouldn’t be enough to extract a victory with a unit composed of LeMahieu, Stanton, and Judge alone. Considering they also have Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, and a bevy of quality hitters, there are no more excuses for lackluster run production.
The good news is that Gerrit Cole is still dominating, pitching 6.0 innings and giving up just one run on six hits. He struck out only five batters, but he gave his offense more than enough chances to take an early lead. He currently hosts a 1.78 ERA, the best of his career.