Several missed opportunities have paid the Yankees
The Yankees were never likely to go 162-0. Although the Red Sox scored in the first inning of tonight’s game, the Yankees had been unable to complete the fightback on Sunday night, falling 4-3 in the Bronx.
The game got off to a rough start in the first inning when Jordan Montgomery was hit on the back of the knee by a 102.8-mph comebacker. The lefty went down hard but returned to the game after being examined by the Yankee staff. J.D. Martinez drilled a two-run double off him, and he hit a batter before getting out of the inning, so one has to wonder if that was the right decision.
In the second and third innings, Monty pitched well, still nibbling and not quite sitting 95 as he did in the first. We knew he was likely capped at 60-70 pitches, and I’m curious how much the pain of the comebacker contributed to him being taken out at 58 pitches. Even though there’s nothing majorly wrong, sitting in a dugout can frustrate those kinds of bruises.
To be fair to Aaron Boone, Gumby struggled in the fourth inning, but he was hurt by his batterymate, Jose Trevino, who couldn’t catch a third-strike curveball and Christian Vázquez managed to reach first. Alex Verdugo followed with just a single, and Monty’s day was over after a batter.
Clarke Schmidt came in and allowed a sac fly before exiting the game. He pitched well over the next two innings, keeping the Red Sox at bay while Anthony Rizzo tied it up with a two-run single, and later when the Yankees challenged with two men on base and one out. Admittedly, neither Aaron Hicks nor Isiah Kiner-Falefa was able to capitalize on their chances with runners in scoring position, and Schmidt was left holding the bag as Bobby Dalbec strikes a solo home run to give the Red Sox the advantage for good.
Offensively, this was Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton’s series. The two sluggers hit home runs on both Friday and Saturday, and they kept it going today, albeit with the ball in the yard:
In the lineup combined, the 3-4 holes to reach base six times and drive in all three runs, and while the Yankees didn’t have a problem getting on base — 11 hits and 4 walks — there was a sense of 2021 throughout the night, as they couldn’t convert men on, particularly leadoff men on, into around the three runs they recorded. We were seeing two of our old friends, the double play, erase major scoring opportunities, particularly the bases-loaded twin shooting that Aaron Hicks bounced into during the third inning.
Hicks had a particularly difficult night, even while he did record a single, he came up short in a couple of key situations where even a single run would have made a significant difference in the one-run ballgame. Defeat is never really the fault of a single player — Josh Donaldson was tormented at the top of the lineup by Tanner Houck, for example — but Hicks struggled in clutch situations on Sunday.
Despite this, the Yankees were able to get the job done in the first series of the season. By taking two of three from Boston, they have gotten off to a better start than last year, and they can build on that coming tomorrow, once the Blue Jays arrive for a four-game series. Game one begins at 7:05 p.m. ET, with Jameson Taillon facing Alek Manoah.
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