In their recent struggles, the first few innings of Yankees games have rarely been all that bad. They often come out hot or are at least in it for a good stretch. Then the mistakes pile up, in the field and on the mound. At the end, some games never look like they were close.
Tonight's series opener against the Phillies was one of those contests. The Yankees were in control for the first six innings. They had a 3-2 lead after a Giancarlo Stanton home run. Then the bullpen completely punted all positive
momentum, far exceeding the will of the offense's brief comeback attempt. The Phillies scored 10 runs off Yankees’ relievers in the final three innings to cap off a 12-5 embarrassment, which caused New York to tumble another full game back of Toronto in the divisional race.
The Yankees struck first in the first, thanks to one of their hottest hitters. Cody Bellinger jumped on a first-pitch curveball in the zone from the homer-prone Taijuan Walker and pulled it 375 feet to right for the icebreaker. Bellinger now has 19 home runs in 2025, exceeding his total from last season.
After committing seven errors in the Toronto series earlier this week, it took an inning and a half for the Yankees to commit their first of this series—a throwing error by Will Warren on a comebacker with a chance to turn two. Warren didn't allow the mistakes to compound as he did in his last start though, striking two straight Phillies to retire the side.
The power party continued in the home half of the second, as another lefty found the second deck against Walker. Austin Wells got a cutter in his happy zone and torched it for his 15th home run to double the Yankee lead.
The Phillies’ lineup stranded six runners in the first four innings against Warren, who was doing his trademark routine of strikeouts (five), walks (three), and deep counts in general. But the Phillies would draw even in the fifth.
Schwarber came up as the tying run while sitting at 999 career hits. The Phillies slugger awaited a first-pitch fastball, and Warren obliged. It was 93 mph in the middle of the strike zone, and Schwarber obliterated it at 113.8 mph on a line to right center field for his 35th home run of 2025 and thousandth hit in MLB.
Warren retired the next five of the next six batters he saw following that home run and exited the game with two outs and nobody on in the sixth. He danced through the raindrops a bit tonight, but was much more poised with runners on base than he was in Atlanta his last time out. He collected seven strikeouts, and his command got better as the game went along. More poor relief work would overshadow his solid effort.
On the other side, Walker settled in after those two early homers, limiting baserunners and throwing lots of strikes. The long ball bugaboo came back to visit him one last time in the sixth, though. Giancarlo Stanton timed up a fastball and it kept carrying into the Yankee bullpen in right-center field to give the Bombers the lead back.
To the surprise of precious few pure souls in attendance, the narrow lead that swing created lasted about two minutes before another defensive mishap caused it to go up in smoke. The Phillies put runners on second and third against Tim Hill, who was relieved by Luke Weaver. Nick Castellanos tapped a groundball to the right side, fielded by Paul Goldschmidt.
The right play was to go to first, but Weaver was late to cover. (How many times have we seen that this month alone?) So Goldschmidt forced a difficult throw home to try and nab the speedy Trea Turner. There was no chance. The throw sailed to the backstop.
The game was tied, but it wouldn't be for long. The next swing from J.T. Realmuto opened the game up. A three-run bomb deep into the bleachers in left-center.
Fortuitously for the Yankees, the Philadelphia bullpen has been quite rickety this season, and the offense immediately got to face its weakest plank. Former Blue Jay Jordan Romano entered and promptly allowed a leadoff home run to Anthony Volpe. Then Ben Rice got aboard off the bench, advanced on a balk and a groundout, then scored on a sac fly from Aaron Judge. Just like that, it was a one-run game again, the scoreboard reading 6-5.
But the Phillies’ bullpen isn't the only unreliable unit in this game. The Yankee relief corps, having already allowed four runs in this one, decided there was more to be done. Ian Hamilton got to two outs before issuing a two-out walk — good teams will punish you for this! Hamilton's reward was facing Schwarber, who sent another ball careening into the seats.
The wheels would fall completely off the wagon in the ninth, as Scott Effross surrendered four more tallies—all with two outs, of course. The Yankees were retired in order in the ninth to cap off a nightmarish final three innings. The 12-5 final belies that this game was close most of the way.
It's clear the bullpen needs upgrades, and Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. can't come fast enough. But a lot of damage has already been done. Toronto is increasing their hold on the division with each passing day. It's enough to make you wonder whether more urgency was needed to address the team's compounding problems.
The Yankees will try to turn the page tomorrow night, and they'll be joined by new third baseman Ryan McMahon. But of course it won't be easy. Marcus Stroman will face stingy left-hander Ranger Suárez in an afternoon game, starting at 1:05 PM EST.
More from pinstripealley.com:
- Yankees acquire Ryan McMahon from Rockies for two prospects
- The Spencer Jones conundrum
- Yankees 2025 draft tracker: 18 of 19 draftees signed
- Yankees Trade Deadline Coverage
- The hitting genius of Aaron Judge
- Pinstripe Alley’s Top 100 Yankees
- 2000 Yankees Diary: The 25th Anniversary of MLB’s Last Three-peat
