About Last Night: Rangers 7, Yankees 4
By Derek McAdam
September 4, 2024
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The New York Yankees lost the second game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers after Wyatt Langford hit a walk-off grand slam. Here’s a recap of last night’s game.
Quick Stats: W: Walter Pennington (1-0): 0.1 IP, 1 BB
L: Clay Holmes (2-5): 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB. 4 ER
With last night’s loss, the Yankees are now 17-23 against left-handed starters, which ranks among the worst in the entire league.
Holmes’ blown save was his 11th of the season.
The Yankees are now in second place in the American League East.
The Big Story: The Yankees came into last night’s game attempting to break a streak that has occurred over the previous two series: winning the first game and losing the next two. Last night was also a battle of the southpaw pitchers, with Carlos Rodon starting for the Yankees and Andrew Heaney for the Rangers. Both pitchers delivered very solid performances for their respective teams.
In the 4th inning, Josh Jung led off the inning with a solo home run to left field to put the first run on the board for either team, giving the Rangers the 1-0 lead. It was ultimately be the only hit that Rodon would give up in his six innings of work.
Heaney exited in the 6th inning after hitting Juan Soto. However, he did a very nice job against the Yankees, allowing no runs and striking out eight batters. Rodon also gave the Yankees a very solid start, with the only criticism being the home run he gave up, although it wasn’t a bad pitch.
In the 7th, after back-to-back singles from Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Volpe to lead off the inning (and a double steal), Jose Trevino grounded out to allow Chisholm to score, tying the game at 1-1. With the infield in, Alex Verdugo then smacked an RBI single into right field to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
In the 8th, with the bases loaded and two outs, Volpe smacked a two-run single into center field to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. Chisholm likely could have scored from first base, but decided to hold up at third.
In the bottom of the inning, an error by DJ LeMahieu at first led to some scoring opportunities for the Rangers. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Jung hit a ground ball up that middle that Gleyber Torres should have fielded, scoring one run and cutting the Yankee lead to 4-2. Nathaniel Lowe then hit a sacrifice fly to give the Rangers another run to make the new score 4-3 Yankees. However, Tim Hill was able to strike out Jonah Heim to end the inning.
Clay Holmes came on to try and close the game out, and got himself into some trouble. With the bases loaded, Langford hit a walk-off grand slam into the left field seats to end the game, with the final score being 7-4 in favor of the Rangers.
Player of the Game: Langford was the hero for the Rangers, and he is absolutely deserving of it.
Notable Performances: Both starters pitched very well. For the Yankees, Chisholm and Volpe were both x-factors for the offense. For the Rangers, Jung also had a couple of big hits.
Better to Forget: Once again, it was another disastrous outing for Holmes. I’ll go into this more in the next section.
My Take: This was a bit of a rollercoaster game for the Yankees. They couldn’t score any runs until the 7th inning, took a three-run lead, and then wiped that away in just a matter of two innings.
When I saw that Heaney was taking the mound for the Rangers, I did not have a great feeling. I knew the Yankees had not performed well against left-handed starters this season, but I did not know that they came into the game with as bad of a record as they did, which was ranked 27th among all teams in the league. What makes things even more strange is that they have the best record in the league against right-handed starters.
The 8th inning had three crucial mistakes, only one of which could be seen on the box score: LeMahieu’s error on a chopped ground ball, Torres’ missed ground ball, and Aaron Judge throwing the ball to the wrong player on the sacrifice fly also did not help. While Judge’s mistake luckily did not cost the Yankees a run, LeMahieu and Torres’ mistakes did. For someone who is praised for his defense, LeMahieu has not been performing well at first base lately. And with his poor offense, this is a double whammy that has made him into a very polarizing figure.
Torres does not get credited with an error for his mistake, but this was one that could have potentially ended the inning with the Yankees still holding a 4-1 lead. I can’t be so sure a double play would've been turned, but they could have at least gotten one out. This was the play that made me believe this game was going to shift in favor of the Rangers. The momentum was starting to build, and it just continued into the 9th inning.
Holmes got the first batter he faced out, and then it was all downhill from there. He could not locate his pitches and hung two pitches in a row over the plate for Langford, who didn’t waste the second opportunity. My question for Aaron Boone is this: How many blown saves will it take before he realizes that Holmes is not a closer? The fact of the matter is that this team does not have a true closer. I don’t necessarily think the Yankees need to have anyone as a scheduled closer, but they can’t continue with Holmes.
This is frustrating on so many levels for the Yankees, but tonight’s game is one that I’ll be curious to see how they bounce back. Will they keep this streak going of winning the first game of a series and then losing the next two? We will soon find out.
What’s Next?: The Yankees will go for the series win tonight before they enjoy an off-day tomorrow ahead of a three-game series in Chicago against the Cubs. Marcus Stroman is scheduled to start for the Yankees, while Nathan Eovaldi is scheduled to start for the Rangers. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. EST.
I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN: I stayed late at the office yesterday because I didn't want to leave in the middle of the game to go home from work. After my work day ended at 5:00 MY TIME (8:00 on the East Coast), since I can't get the YES Network in Southern California, I "watched" the game on Gameday, where I can experience every pitch of the game, and see videos of key hits, key pitching performances, and defensive wizardry, interspersed with the action.
At 8:00 PM (11:00 PM on the East Coast), the Yankees were ahead 4 - 3 going into the Bottom Of The 9th, and I wrongly assumed that when I got home from work after that final…
Better to Forget: Once again, it was another disastrous outing for Holmes.
i believe, fervently, that it's better NOT to forget this. too many to dismiss.
it's better for the people in slasher movies NOT to forget that it's a bad idea to hide in the shed with all the chain saws.
it's better not to forget that Holmes has misplaced both his control and his confidence.
it's better to forget that the team doesn't need six starters at this point in the season, but is badly in need of someone to replace Holmes as the closer.
the question to ponder might be whether it should be the young starter with the big fastball
or the more experience, crafty and…
2024 has to be Boone's last year as Yankee manager. Last night was an object lesson in Boone's lack of in-game decision-making and his platitudes have become his trademark. The bullpen problems and lack of a true closer will be why the Yankees make an early exit from the playoffs.
I defended him yesterday, but have to be fair. The only person I know of connected to baseball and baseball journalism that thought they had an effective closer is the GM. It was obvious in 23 they needed an upgrade, but he did nothing about it. They may speak the company line publicly, but the players all know it as well. This was a colossal misjudgement that will doom them in the end.
The bullpen has been weak since March.