Yankees drop second straight series, lose to Indians 8-4

The New York Yankees fell to the Cleveland Indians for the second consecutive day in this three-game set by a final score of 8-4. After going 20-7 in the month of May, the Bombers are off to a slow start in June, winning just two of their last seven games.

DJ LeMahieu started it off for the Yanks by hitting a dribbler to third that he was able to beat out for an infield single. Two batters later, Didi Gregorius launched a breaking ball into the right field seats for his first homer of the season. It gave the Yankees an early 2-0 lead in the first. Man, it's good to have him back.

CC Sabathia took the mound for what is likely the final time at Progressive Field, the place where he started his career. For the most part, he pitched decently. He was roughed up in the fourth inning when he gave up three hits and two runs. That included a game-tying double that came this close to landing in left field the seats.

Sabathia gave up a deep drive the very next inning to Oscar Mercado that hit the top of the wall in right. This one, however, went out for a homer. That put the Indians up 4-2. CC would not record his 250th career win as he would last five innings, but down two runs. His final line: five innings pitched, seven hits, four runs, and five strikeouts.

Jonathan Holder came in to pitch the sixth inning and the Indians didn’t greet him nicely. Roberto Perez blasted a two-run home run to left field and Kevin Plawecki hit a solo shot that landed in the same area as Perez’s. The Yankees would go into the seventh down 7-2.

Didi Gregorius led off the inning with a groundball back to pitcher Oliver Perez. Perez threw the ball past first base and that allowed Gregorius to reach second. Gleyber Torres made them pay for that miscue as he rifled a double into the right centerfield gap, scoring Gregorius. Gio Urshela would later drive Torres in with a sacrifice fly cutting the Tribe’s lead to 7-4.

Luis Cessa replaced Holder in the eighth. Jose Ramirez started the inning with a leadoff walk. He would work his way around the bases and eventually score on a sacrifice-fly by Plawecki. That made it 8-4 and that would be the final.

On the bright side, LeMahieu now has 28 multi-hit games, Didi looks great, and Clint Frazier is batting a .312 on this road trip.

The Yankees will find themselves in a similar situation tomorrow as they were in last series, trying to avoid a sweep. Masahiro Tanaka was scheduled to start the series finale but was placed on paternity leave as his wife gave birth to their second child. He will now start Monday against the Mets. The Yankees will use the “opener” tomorrow as Chad Green will start instead.