About Last Night: CLE 9, NYY 5

By Ethan Semendinger

August 21st, 2024

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Soto and Judge started off the game going back-to-back, then the game became a snooze fest and they blew it in the 12th.

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Quick Stats -

• Winning Pitcher: Tim Herrin (5-0, 2.12 ERA)

• Losing Pitcher: Tim Mayza (0-2, 8.31 ERA)

• Save: N/A

• Home Runs (Cleveland): Brayan Rocchio (6)

• Home Runs (New York): Juan Soto (35), Aaron Judge (45)

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Big Story - The Yankees returned home in the wake of a 6-game road trip against two teams at the bottom of the AL Central, in which they went 3-3. That road trip came off the heels of a 9-game homestand to start the month of August where the Yankees went 5-4 against the likes of the Blue Jays, Angels, and Rangers.

The Yankees, after the All-Star break and through the end of July, were finally looking to show themselves as a dominant team as they did in the beginning of the year. However, the recent performance of this team is again raising concerns from fans and the media alike.

There are far too many holes on this team to point to a single culprit for their struggles. The defense has not been sharp. The bullpen hasn't performed well. The offense (outside of Judge and Soto) often doesn't show up. The starting pitchers don't go deep into games. And, don't get me started on the poor baserunning.

Aside all of that, coming into this game there was one moment on everybody's mind: Jasson Dominguez double-clutched a throw on Sunday night that allowed the walk-off run to score in a 3-2 Yankees loss in Williamsport.

So, you'd have to imagine this team would be on their "A" game on defense and baseball IQ last night.

Here was the line-up for the first game of a three-game series against the Guardians:

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Player of the Game -

• Aaron Judge: 2-5, Run, Home Run, Double, 3 RBI's, 1 BB

Notable Performances -

• Juan Soto: 1-5, Run, Home Run, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

• Jose Trevino: 0-1, 3 BB's

• Anthony Volpe: 2-4, Double, 1 RBI, 1 BB

• Gleyber Torres: 0-4, Run, 2 BB's

• Tim Hill: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K's

• Mark Leiter Jr.: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's

• Luke Weaver: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB's, 1 K

• Clay Holmes: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's

• Nick Cousins: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB's, 2 K's

Better to Forget -

• Luis Gil: Pulled in the 4th with an apparent injury

• Tim Mayza: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB's, 0 K's

• Michael Tonkin: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB's, 1 K

• Giancarlo Stanton: 0-3, BB, K

• Trent Grisham: 0-2, Thrown Out At Home

• Alex Verdugo: 0-6, K

• DJ LeMahieu: 0-5, K

• Oswaldo Cabrera: 0-3, Run

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The Game - UGGGGGGGGGG. How frustrating it is to have to write about last night's game. Especially because it started off with such a bang.

Oswald Peraza made an amazing catch on the tarp to end the top of the 1st for Luis Gil, and then Juan Soto and Aaron Judge went back-to-back with their respective 35th and 45th home runs of the year in the bottom half of the inning.

But, the Guardians slowly started to score runs themselves: A run scored in the 2nd on a double-clutch from DJ LeMahieu on a throw home. Another scored in the 3rd off a single on a play where DJ LeMahieu cut-off the throw home and the defense couldn't complete a run-down. The go-ahead run scored in the 4th from a Brayan Rocchio solo home run.

And then Luis Gil was pulled from the game. He wasn't having a productive night anyway (3.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R (3 ER), 6 BB's, 3 K's), but he wasn't pulled because of performance. Instead, Gil was pulled with an apparent injury. (It is now being reported as lower back tightness.) This was the beginning of the Yankees needing to use every reliever in their bullpen.

The Yankees did tie the game back up in the bottom of the 4th, thanks to an Anthony Volpe RBI double that scored Jose Trevino. And then, neither team scored until the 12th (!) inning.

To be fair, the Yankees bullpen (outside of the guys in the 12th inning) deserve some credit. They held a potent Cleveland offense to zeros on the board for 7 straight innings. And, if most bullpens around the league were able to hold an opponent scoreless for that long, it would seem a win was certain. However, this team as a whole was collapsing. Here are a few examples:

In the 6th inning, DJ LeMahieu didn't come up with a potential inning-ending pick-off throw to 1st. Instead, David Fry was able to advance to third base.

In the 8th inning, Trent Grisham slowly jogged to second base on an Austin Wells deep flyball (turned double) that bounced off the top of the center field wall. Then, he started to run quicker towards third, and stutter stepped as he approached and rounded the base...only to get sent home and tagged out.

In the 12th inning, DJ LeMahieu fielded a groundball to 1st (with runners on the corners), and instead of touching first base to get an easy out, he threw the ball to 2nd base to get a force. It worked, but it was sloppy...and then Michael Tonkin didn't cover first on a groundball later in the inning, which allowed the Guardians to score their 6th run of the inning (and 9th on the game).

To score 6 in the top of the 12th inning, the Guardians hit an RBI double (4-3), a single, an out, an RBI single (5-3), a bases-loading walk, a bases-clearing 3-RBI triple (8-3), and an RBI single to the infield.

The Yankees- through Aaron Judge- scored 2 runs via a double in the bottom of the 12th, but it didn't matter. The game was long gone by then.

***

I'm so exhausted from watching this game. It was yet another disaster, brought on by poor planning, poor execution, poor fielding, poor baserunning, poor hitting, and poor managing. These themes are too common for this team to have any hopes or aspirations about greatness. It's not even funny anymore.

Here are a few stats and some jumbled 12:00 AM thoughts:

• Alex Verdugo has a .198 AVG in his last 30 games. He has a .180 AVG in his last 15 games, and a .103 AVG in his last 7 games.

• DJ LeMahieu has a .183 AVG in his last 30 games. He has a .239 AVG in his last 15 games, and a .130 AVG in his last 7 games.

• Hector Neris was DFA'ed by the Cubs. I think the Yankees will be calling him/his agent quickly after last nights loss. They'll need a few bullpen arms ASAP.

• Jose Trevino has started 3 of 4 games since coming back, and after Aaron Boone said Austin Wells would get the majority of playing time. When your manager doesn't even attempt to tell the truth, why would you listen to/from him about anything else?

• John Sterling was in the TV booth for the 4th and 5th innings of the game. He stated how the Yankees bullpen hasn't been good (and how that isn't normal for the Yankees) and how players like Torres, Volpe, and LeMahieu are not hitting a lick.

• Jomboy posted this collection of defensive and baserunning miscues from last night's game. This doesn't include a missed pop-up, nor Grisham not advancing to 2nd base on a wild pitch.

• Jasson Domniguez went 4-5 in Triple-A last night. No, that does not mean call him up to join this disasterclass of a team. Let him slowly dominate Triple-A until the roster expands.

• Torres, Stanton, Grisham, Verdugo, and LeMahieu went 0-20 last night.

• The Yankees pitching threw 14 walks last night. That was the most in a game for the team in over 50 years. (And I think much longer, I forget what they said on the postgame show.)

• I'm going to bed.

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Next Up - Tonight, the Yankees (73-53) will play the middle game of their series at home against the Cleveland Guardians (73-52). The Yankees will be praying that Nestor Cortes (6-10, 4.20 ERA) can throw many many innings after depleting their bullpen last night. The Guardians will be sending Joey Cantillo (0-2, 6.23 ERA) to the bump as they try to take a quick series win. The game begins at 7:05 PM and will be broadcast on Amazon Prime. (It is also Yankees Short Sleeve Hoodie Night for the first 18,000 fans.)