By Derek McAdam
April 3, 2024
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The New York Yankees lost their first game of the 2024 season to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night, losing by a score of 7-0. Here is the recap of the game.
Quick Stats: W: Zac Gallen (2-0): 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K
L: Nestor Cortes Jr. (0-1): 5+ IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
The Big Story: Similarly to his Opening Day start in Houston, Cortes ran into a lot of trouble in the first inning. After Ketel Marte led off the inning with a double, Blaze Alexander hit an RBI single to put the Diamondbacks on the board. Just a few batters later, Eugenio Suarez singled to score Alexander, giving the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead. The next batter, Gabriel Moreno, then singled to drive in Christian Walker, extending Arizona’s lead to 3-0.
Following the first inning, Cortes was able to settle down and go 5+ innings for the Yankees. However, the Yankees were unable to get anything going on offense against Zac Gallen and were kept off the board. While they had a couple of opportunities with runners on base, they failed to advance anyone past second base.
In the seventh inning, Christian Walker doubled the Diamondbacks’ lead with a three-run home run off newly-acquired Yankee pitcher Jake Cousins, making the score 6-0.
In the eighth, the Diamondbacks scored an additional run on a wild pitch to make the score 7-0, which would ultimately be the final score. The Diamondbacks improved to 4-2, while the Yankees’ record now stands at 5-1.
Player of the Game: Zac Gallen pitched a fantastic game against the Yankees and is absolutely deserving of this honor. He didn’t have his best stuff last night, but he didn’t allow many baserunners to reach, and if they did, he managed to keep them from crossing the plate.
Notable Performances: Ketel Marte, Blaze Alexander, Christian Walker, Jake McCarthy, and Geraldo Perdomo each had multi-hit games for the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks’ bullpen also managed to keep the Yankees off the board in its three innings of work.
Better to Forget: The entire Yankees team would like to forget this game, although it was their first loss of the season in six games. Nestor Cortes would likely want to forget that first inning, especially after he had a similar performance in Houston.
My Take: The Yankees were going to lose at some point, so it’s not a bad time to discuss losing for the first time after the sixth game of the season. It just wasn’t their night. They were facing a starter who can carry a rotation and has an excellent arsenal of pitches. The players that were on a hot streak all gathered hits in this game for the Yankees: Juan Soto, Anthony Volpe, and Oswaldo Cabrera. However, the rest of the team failed to deliver any hits.
I’m not going to make too much of this loss because of how early in the season it is. One week is not going to make or break a season, so I’ll save the criticism for another time. I hope to see the Yankees continue to work the counts and make the starters throw a good amount of pitches to get to the opposing bullpen as early as possible.
As for this loss, it’s best to just move on and go for the series win today. If they can win today, taking six out of seven games on the road would be a great start for a team that finished just two games above .500 last season and is missing its ace.
What’s Next?: The Yankees will be back in action today to wrap up the seven-game road stand to start off the season. Carlos Rodon is set to take the mound for the Yankees, while Merrill Kelly is scheduled to start for the Diamondbacks. First pitch is set for 3:40 p.m. EST from Chase Field In Phoenix, Arizona.
You didn't really think that the Yankees were actually going to go 162-0, did you? Losses are inevitable.
The "winningest" team in baseball history, the 2001 Seattle Mariners who won an ALL TIME RECORD 116 games, lost 46 games AND lost to the Yankees in the post season, in the ALCS.
The "winningest" team in Yankee history, the 1998 New York Yankees who won 114 games, lost 47 games enroute to a dominant post season and a World Championship. And the great 1998 Yankees looked bad in many of those 47 losses, including, at one point, losing 7 in a row, and being swept by the awful last place Tampa Bay Devil Rays in their first year as an expansio…
this is the afternoon when the team will have the opportunity to re-assert primacy.
Rodon has the ability and must display it
and the offense also must be on display
get 5 runs for Rodon
early on.
Sloppy game against an ace. We knew a loss was coming. Come home 6-1 and all will be forgotten.
Why did the Yanks send down Beeter?? His replacement Jake Cousins makes absolutely no sense. Beeter has looked electric with movement and velocity. He should be on this team. Its time to develop these young pitchers instead of constantly using retreads!!
Nestor hasn't looked good. That's two starts in a row where he put the Yankees in a hole.
Giancarlo Stanton looks terrible. Sure, players get off to bad starts. But he's looked bad for years now. He should not be starting against right-handed pitchers, or, at least, he should be hitting way down the lineup.
Otherwise, hey, sometimes you lose.
It'll be interesting to see how Rodon pitches later today.