-Baseball is really painful. The old saying about succeeding three times out of ten getting you into the Hall of Fame doesn’t mention how much the other seven failures can sting. Those seven failures seemed to be all the Yankees could manage today, as the team lost another series, dropping the rubber match against the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3.
Masahiro Tanaka, after making some progress in his last three starts, labored all day. Travis Shaw had a three run home run in the first, putting the Yankees in the same deficit they managed to claw out of yesterday. Stephen Vogt led off the second with a solo shot, and it looked like a long, ugly day for the Bronx Bombers.
Tanaka recovered somewhat after all that, logging five strikeouts but being charged with a tack-on run after putting two men on and Chasen Shreve failed to retire Shaw. The rest of the bullpen managed pretty well, keeping the Yankees within striking distance while allowing just four baserunners in 4.2 innings of work. Chad Green, who struck out 4 of the 6 batters he saw, was especially impressive.
Clint Frazier, meanwhile, is following in the footsteps of the other Baby Bombers when it comes to the start of their big league careers. In the bottom of the fourth, Red Thunder launched his second home run in as many days to right-center field. That scored Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley and moved the Yankees to within one, which made the tack-on run that followed in the fifth even more painful.
It was a rough day, and I’ll forgive you for just watching the video of the home run and skipping the rest of the recap:
Clint Frazier belts a two-run home run to right-center, bringing the Yankees within one run with this third long ball of the season!!! pic.twitter.com/cbAtKA6N0b
— TheRenderMLB (@TheRenderMLB) July 9, 2017
That was it for the Yankees in terms of runs scored, though not in terms of baserunners. In five straight innings the team managed to put a runner into scoring position, but each time couldn’t manage that one big hit. Headley came closest in the sixth, tattooing a pitch that would have been a go-ahead home run had it been six inches to the left. Instead, the ball was clearly foul upon review and called back.
It’s tough to say “it was one of those games” when the Yankees have been in their recent funk, but these games do happen. The team packs up for the All-Star break in a playoff position, and the cavalry appears to be on the way. Matt Holliday is in the middle of a rehab stint and expects to join the team in Boston, and Starlin Castro will begin a rehab assignment on Wednesday. The addition of an All-Star and a near All-Star to the lineup will be a healthy boost.
Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez get no such break, however, as the two sluggers will have the Home Run Derby tomorrow night in Miami. The festivities kick off at 8pm EDT. That should at least be fun after a disappointing stretch.