Alexander Wilson
Max Schuemann hitting the only Yankees homer in a sleepy loss is funny until it starts feeling like evidence. Then it gets a little less cute.
The Yankees managed one run Saturday, and it came when Schuemann broke up Jake Bennett’s no-hit bid with a 412-foot blast in the fifth inning. The rest of the offense mostly watched Boston turn another Fenway game into a slow leak.
Over the first three games of the series, the Yankees went 14-for-94, a .149 average, with only eight walks. Max Schuemann gave them a moment, and his limited season line is at least interesting at a .386 OBP with one homer in 44 plate appearances. But if he is the spark, the bigger problem is already waving.
The Yankees need more than one odd spark
This is not a shot at Schuemann. Honestly, good for him. First Yankees homer, Fenway, one clean piece of offense on a day where the lineup looked like it was stuck in mud. You take that every time.
The problem is what came around it. Ben Rice is cold, Cody Bellinger has cooled, and Amed Rosario’s lefty-killer act has quieted down at exactly the wrong time. The Yankees started 18-6 against left-handed starters, then dropped six of their next seven against them.
July starts getting nosy right there. If the Yankees keep looking ordinary against lefties, the deadline board has to include a bat that changes the matchup texture. The answer cannot be hoping one utility spark covers a lineup-wide drag.
Schuemann cannot be the whole Yankees answer
Schuemann is useful because he can bounce around the diamond, defend, run into one, and give Aaron Boone more ways to finish a game. Useful matters. It just cannot become the headline of a contending offense.
The Yankees need Rice to punch back, Bellinger to stabilize, Rosario to regain his matchup value, and the injured pieces to stop living on the calendar. A 412-foot reminder from Schuemann helps the mood for about five minutes.
Then the trouble comes back. The Yankees need more right-handed damage, more traffic, and more answers before every decent lefty starts looking like a bad afternoon waiting to happen.
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