Yankees Highlights: Batters and bullpen fail to show in loss to Royals

That winning streak sure was short-lived. After a scintillating two-game sweep of the rival Red Sox, the Yankees fell flat on their faces in losing to the Royals. At no point did they ever really look like they had much of a shot of beating Kansas City, falling behind immediately and never leading against one of the AL’s dregs, posting just four hits in the process.

Winner of the Game

I feel the need to repeat what I wrote in this space last Sunday. On that day, the Yankees lost in uninspiring fashion to the White Sox. I anointed Aaron Judge the winner, despite a day in which he didn’t record multiple hits nor a home run, because Judge simply put together a great overall game. Well, tonight, the Yankees once more lost a frustrating game to a bad team, and few players really stuck out, so again we’ll name Judge our winner on the back of another all-around performance. Judge only recorded one hit and scored one run, but put in some more excellent work in right field, including a sensational diving grab:

Loser of the Game

The Yankees’ super bullpen. It has been a rocky start for the Yankees’ supposed uber-strength, and tonight was no different. Jonathan Holder relieved Domingo German after six solid innings and promptly gave up two runs on three hits while only recording one out. Zack Britton managed to induce the last two outs of the seventh, but Chad Green needed 32 pitches to work his way out of a two-on, one-out, eighth-inning jam. Joe Harvey scuffled and yielded a run in the ninth. The bullpen didn’t let the game get completely out of hand, but they didn’t keep the Yankees close, and looked shaky in doing so.

Chart

FanGraphs