For all the ink that has been (rightfully) spilled about a struggling Yankees’ offense, the once-dominant starting rotation has gone under the radar in the blame game for the team’s poor play over the past two weeks. While injuries to Max Fried and Carlos Rodón have certainly thinned things out, the results speak for themselves over the last 11 games:
- 6.45 ERA
- The Yankees have scored first just one time
- NYY’s starting pitcher allowed a run in the first seven times
- they’ve trailed before coming to bat five times
- they’ve allowed 4+ runs in the first four innings six times
Will Warren did not do anything to improve any of these numbers. He allowed six runs across four bad innings, failing to follow up Cam Schlittler’s
brilliance last night. For once, he got real run support on an early three-run home run by Ben Rice, but the six he would allow would ultimately be too much, as the Rays took two big innings and beat the Yanks, 6-4, behind a whole lot of strikeouts by the Yankees and some huge pop from the bottom of their order. By fanning 17 times for the second consecutive night, the Yanks set an ignominous franchise record with 34 in a two-game span.
Seymour set the tone early with five strikeouts over the first two innings, giving up only a single to Rice in the first inning. While Warren started strong with two strikeouts in the first, the Rays got to him in the bottom half. Victor Mesa Jr. jumped all over a high fastball with one out in the second to open the scoring with a solo homer, but it wouldn’t end there.
With two out and the bases empty, he lost a pair of long at-bats to Richie Palacios and Hunter Fedducia, allowing a single and a walk. Doing that against the bottom of the order, especially in the Rays’ lineup, will bite you. Yandy Díaz caught up to a sinker on his hands to make it 2-0 after two on an RBI single.
Needing a response, they got to Seymour in the third. Max Schuemann laid down a beautiful bunt, and Trent Grisham dunked a double to left field to put two in scoring position with one out. Paul Goldschmidt struck out, but it was Rice to the rescue, as the first-time All-Star blasted his 26th home run of the season to the opposite field to make it 3-2 Yanks. That’s a good preview of next week’s Home Run Derby in Philly.
Warren recovered to retire the heart of the order in a row in the third, while Seymour struck out two more in the fourth. The game seemed to get a real pace to it with one out and an 0-2 count on Taylor Walls in the fourth, but things quickly spiraled after that for the Yankees’ right-hander.
Warren threw three uncompetitive pitches in a row before giving in on a sinker and giving up a single. That would be no biggie, but then he grooved a 1-1 sinker to Richie Palacios for a smoked RBI double to right-center field to tie the game. Two pitches later, the light-hitting Fedducia obliterated a bad 0-1 fastball to give them the lead. Three pitches later, Warren hung a sweeper on 1-1 to Díaz and, yep, he gave up another homer, making it 6-3.
Warren has objectively not been good in the last month, but most of the time, he allows three earned runs or fewer. This was a disaster in terms of location and velocity. His four-seamer and sinker are both sitting under 93, and for a guy who doesn’t rely on overpowering you, I’m concerned. He hasn’t missed a start since becoming a full-time major leaguer, and I wonder if it’s catching up to him.
Now pitching with a lead, Seymour was dialed in. He struck out three more in the fifth to notch a career-high 12 strikeouts and eventually ended his day with one out in the sixth. It’s the second straight day that a guy who’s fairly average in strikeouts has logged a lot of them against the Yankees, who’ve seen their plate discipline tank across the board over the last three weeks. It’s not what you want.
Tim Hill got five quick outs across the fifth and sixth to keep the game in striking distance before Paul Blackburn took over and got four of his own. The Yankees tried to rally in both innings but didn’t get the big hit. In the sixth, Ryan McMahon hit a pinch-hit single with one out, and Bellinger had one of his best swings of the month to get him to third on one of his own, but he inexplicably got picked off at first after taking a wide turn. Of all the guys on the team, his play of late has been the most bizarre.
In the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and pinch-hitter Jasson Domínguez singled off Kevin Kelly to get the tying run to the plate, but they scratched just one run across on an Ali Sánchez sac fly. Grisham ripped a ball to deep right-center off Cam Booser on the first pitch he saw, but none of the five ballparks that would’ve been a game-tying homer in were this one. Goldschmidt completed the golden sombrero with a strikeout to end the threat.
Garrett Cleavinger came on for the eighth and worked around a leadoff single by Rice with two strikeouts. Brent Headrick did his job to get this to the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, but All-Star closer Bryan Baker finished the job for the Rays, locking down a 6-4 win for the AL East leaders. If you want to find some solace from this one, the Yankees recorded double-digit hits for the first time since June 17th.
The Yankees will look to take a 2-1 lead in this pivotal four-game set tomorrow night at 6:40 pm on Prime Video. It’s a battle of the aces, as Gerrit Cole squares off against a finally healthy Shane McClanahan.
