It would be an understatement to say this past weekend of Yankees baseball wasn’t, at the very least, the most exciting and headline-making that the club has had in recent weeks. Back and forth games at Fenway filled with high-octane offense. Yankees making mid-series acquisitions. Let’s dive into what happened this past weekend with the Yanks.
7/26: Red Sox 9, Yankees 7
The first game of the Yankees 3-game set in Fenway was a whirlwind of emotions for Yankee fans. Yankee starter Nestor Cortes gave up 4 ER and a season-high 9 hits over 4 and 2/3 IP. The Red Sox led the Yankees 1-0, 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 over the course of the first six innings of play.
Then, in the top of the 7th, Aaron Judge hit a ball off Red Sox reliever Zack Kelly so far that I thought it was going to land in Europe. A 470-foot moonshot to dead center by Judge put the Yankees up 6-4 before Austin Wells teed off Kelly with a solo shot of his own to make it 7-4 Bombers.
Surely the Yankees wouldn’t blow a 3-run lead in the 7th, right? Wrong! Not even half an inning later Red Sox SS Ceddanne Rafaela cut the Yankee lead to 1 with a two-run shot off Luke Weaver.
In the bottom of the 8th and clinging to a 1-run lead, Weaver would face Yankee-killer Rafael Devers with two on and no one out. Weaver got Devers to fly out to left for the first out.
Yankee skipper Aaron Boone then had the brilliant idea to bring in closer Clay Holmes for a 5-out save. I can speak for probably 95% of the Yankee fanbase when I say no one expected Holmes to keep the lead. And sure enough, two batters and two singles later, the Red Sox had a 9-7 lead. Really have no clue why Boone would bring in Holmes, who has clearly struggled as of late, for a 5-out save.
Notorious Red Sox fan and MLB social media star Jared Carrabis said it best:
The Yankees made some noise in the ninth but eventually dropped the first game of the series, losing to the Sox 9-7.
7/27: Yankees 11, Red Sox 8
After Friday night’s demoralizing loss, the Yankees put their fans through some more misery on Saturday.
Not, however, before the first domino of this year’s trade deadline fell for NY. It was reported on 7/27 that the Yankees had made a deal with the Miami Marlins for OF/2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. in exchange for prospects C Agustin Ramirez, IF Jared Serna and IF Abrahan Ramirez.
Adding Chisholm gives the Yankees a young, studded outfielder who can also play the infield.
This is a must for the Yankees, who continue to see poor performances from DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres. Adding Chisholm gives the Yankees a much-needed swagger boost and they’re also trading for a guy with multiple years of control left (cannot become an UFA until 2027).
Chisholm would not arrive in Boston until Sunday so the Yankees had to play Saturday’s game without him.
The Yankees jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first before Marcus Stroman gave that lead right back in the bottom of the first. Stroman’s final line would be 3 1/3 IP, 9 Hits, 5 Runs (3 ER) and 0 Ks.
The game would go back and forth the whole way. The Yankees tied the game 3 times, most notably in the top of the 9th off a Trent Grisham double with the Yankees down to their final strike.
After tying it 8-8 in the 9th, the Yankees scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th off a Wells sac fly and 2-run double from Torres.
Ironically, the guy who blew the game on Friday night for the Yankees came in and whirled an impressive performance to secure the win for NY.
Clay Holmes pitched 2 Innings, giving up 0 hits/runs while recording 2 Ks. It is puzzling that Holmes can blow the game on Friday and turn around the next night and be lights out. I guess the Yankees, and their fans, were spoiled with the 19 years that Mariano Rivera took the ball for them and absolutely dominated.
7/28: Yankees 8, Red Sox 2
Sunday night’s rubber match between baseball’s biggest rivals was not as entertaining as the first two games.
Yankee southpaw Carlos Rodon would pitch a masterful game, going 6 1/3 IP and recording 7 Ks while only giving up 5 Hits and 2 ERs. A much better performance than Rodon’s last start at Fenway.
The Yankees would get to Boston SP Tanner Houck early, putting up 3 runs in the top of the 1st. Houck would not give up another run after the first, going for 6 innings of 3-run ball.
The Red Sox bullpen, however, would let the Yankees tack on 4 more runs in the later innings to build an 8-2 lead that they would not relinquish. The Yankees would take the rubber match, and the series, for their first series win against Boston this year and only their second series win since mid-June.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. would make his Yankee debut at CF and would go 1-5 with a single and a run. Jazz showed off his wheels, stealing 3rd base in the top of 9th while Devers was in la la land.
Upcoming Series At Philadelphia (7/29-7/31)
The Yankees will look to keep their win streak alive as they start a 3-game series in Philadelphia against the 65-40 Phillies, who have the best record in the MLB.
The projected pitching matchups could not be juicier, at least for the first two games:
7/29: Luis Gil vs. Zach Wheeler
7/30: Gerrit Cole vs. Aaron Nola
7/31: Nestor Cortes vs. Cristopher Sanchez
Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole will be looking to bounce back from their less than acceptable outings against the Mets and with the Yankees looking to make more deadline moves, who knows whether Nestor will still be on the team by 7/31.
