NEW YORK — The Yankees spent Wednesday night creating the illusion that a breakthrough was close. Their lineup forced long counts, filled bases and kept the tying run within reach. Rain interrupted the rhythm. Stadium lights briefly failed. The scoreboard stayed stubbornly unchanged.
New York had absorbed a 13-7 loss in the series opener before answering with a 2-0 win behind Ryan Weathers. That left the Yankees with a chance to rescue the three-game set at Yankee Stadium and avoid handing a series victory to a club that entered the finale below .500.
The Yankees instead turned pressure into waste. They reached base 13 times on four hits, eight walks and a hit batter. They made five St. Louis pitchers throw 188 pitches. Yet New York finished 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 in a 3-1 loss.Yankees
The Cardinals began Wednesday at 56-58 and without a series win since July 10-12. They left the Bronx at 57-58 after taking two of three from a Yankees club trying to regain ground in the AL East. New York fell to 64-51 and 4 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay.
One reaction captures a night of waste
The moment that best explained the Yankees’ frustration came at the end of the sixth inning.
Ryan McMahon stepped in with the bases loaded, New York trailing 3-1 and one more chance to turn a laborious inning into damage. Jazz Chisholm Jr. had just forced home the Yankees’ only run with a walk. McMahon struck out swinging against George Soriano, ending the threat.
McMahon threw his bat and helmet near the plate as he walked away.
The outburst did not cost the Yankees the game. But it supplied the clearest image of a lineup that kept getting close and could not finish.
McMahon went 0-for-2 with two walks. Both official at-bats came with runners in scoring position. In the second, Heliot Ramos doubled with nobody out, but the Yankees failed to bring him home. McMahon grounded out to third for the final out.
His sixth-inning strikeout carried more weight. Ben Rice walked, advanced on a wild pitch and reached third when catcher Iván Herrera’s throw got away. Luis García Jr. walked. Ramos was hit by a pitch. Soriano struck out Spencer Jones before walking Chisholm.
The Yankees had a run, a packed infield and an opening. McMahon’s bat toss followed when that opening disappeared.
Yankees make St. Louis work without making it pay
McMahon’s reaction personified more than one failed plate appearance. It reflected the entire series.
The Yankees scored 10 runs in three games, but seven came in the opening defeat after St. Louis had built a large advantage. New York managed only three runs across the final two games. The pitching staff delivered a shutout Tuesday, but the lineup could not carry that momentum into the deciding game.
Wednesday’s numbers made the frustration sharper. The Yankees produced only four hits despite eight walks. Their only run scored without a hit. Ramos doubled in the second. George Lombard Jr. singled McMahon to second in the fifth. Paul Goldschmidt doubled in the seventh. None scored.
New York put two runners aboard in the eighth when Chisholm and McMahon walked with two outs. Lombard struck out against Ryne Stanek. Rice drew a two-out walk in the ninth, but Ali Sanchez struck out against Riley O’Brien to end it.
The Cardinals scored all three runs with two outs in the fifth. JJ Wetherholt drove a two-run double over Trent Grisham’s head in center, and Herrera followed with a ground-rule double.
Manager Aaron Boone saw enough traffic to believe the Yankees should have changed the result. His response centered on execution rather than opportunity.
“I thought Pallante was good, but we’ve got to come through in those situations,” Boone said. “I liked the opportunities tonight. We had a lot of chances; it felt like we had baserunners every inning, but we’ve got to be able to deliver. We haven’t done that enough.”
The quote matched the visual McMahon left at the plate. The Yankees did not lack chances. They lacked the hit that would have made those chances matter.
Boone demands production in scoring spots
Aaron Boone watched the Yankees control the strike zone without controlling the game. He addressed the gap between pressure and production afterward.
“We got to get it done. We got to come through in those situations,” Boone said. “Like the opportunities tonight. Had a lot of chances, felt like baserunners every inning, but we got to be able to deliver, and we haven’t done that enough.”
The Yankees have scored two runs or fewer in six of their past seven games. New York pushed St. Louis deep into counts and into its bullpen. The Cardinals escaped because the Yankees could not turn patience into damage.
Losing any series at home hurts a postseason contender. Losing two of three to a sub-.500 Cardinals team made this one more damaging. St. Louis did not overpower the Yankees in the finale. It converted two-out opportunities while New York repeatedly failed to do the same.
The Yankees return Friday against the Atlanta Braves with Max Fried scheduled to face his former club. They will carry a 64-51 record into the next series, along with the image of McMahon leaving the plate without his bat or helmet after the biggest chance of the night slipped away.
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