As far as Tuesdays in June go, this one wasn’t pretty in The Bronx.
Aaron Judge missed his first game of the season with the bone bruise near his right shoulder that was diagnosed a day earlier and the Yankees went out and saw Cam Schlittler, who started the day at the American League Cy Young favorite, deliver his worst outing of the season.
And it ended with a bullpen in need of reinforcements getting knocked around, as the Yankees fell to Cleveland 9-4 and have lost nine of their 12 games against teams above .500.
The Yankees entered the game having won six of their last seven and came back to the Stadium to face the Guardians, leading the AL Central despite the second-lowest payroll in the majors ($88 million).
Cleveland got the better of Yankees pitching time and time again. After the Yankees scored four runs off lefty Joey Cantillo in just four innings, Cleveland’s bullpen shut them down.
It all started with Schlittler’s clunker, as he allowed a career-high five runs, four earned, in just 4 ¹/₃ innings.
He retired the first seven batters he faced before light-hitting catcher Patrick Bailey tripled to center with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brayan Rocchio.
The Yankees went ahead in the bottom of the inning.
With one out, Ben Rice singled to center and Paul Goldschmidt, who reached on a ground rule double in the first, homered to left to put the Yankees up, 2-1.
Goldschmidt entered the game with a 1.172 OPS against left-handed pitching.
Schlittler’s uneven performance continued in the fourth.
José Ramirez opened with a double to right on a 3-2 cutter.
After Chase DeLauter flied out, Kyle Manzardo took Schlittler deep to right, also on a cutter, to put the Yankees in a 3-2 hole.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. reached on an infield single with one in the fourth before José Caballero worked a walk, in part due to his use of the pitch count to irritate Cantillo.
An Austin Wells fly ball to center sent Chisholm to third and Caballero stole second before Ben Rice walked to load the bases.
Goldschmidt delivered again, this time with a two-run single to right to put the Yankees up, 4-3.
The bottom of the Guardians’ lineup loaded the bases with no one out in the fifth with a Steven Kwan single, a costly error by Amed Rosario at third on Bailey’s grounder and a hit by pitch by Rocchio.
Following a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Travis Bazzana’s sacrifice fly tied it and Ramirez doubled to right to drive in another run, as the Yankees fell behind and Schlitter’s night was over.
Brent Headrick got out of the inning, but Cleveland added to their lead in the seventh against the struggling Tim Hill, as Rocchio singled, stole second and then swiped third by taking off from second and beating Hill to the bag, with Rosario far from the base.
Ramirez doubled in Rocchio to make it 6-4.
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Anthony Volpe prevented more damage on Manzardo’s infield single to shortstop, as he caught Ramirez off third and got him caught in an inning-ending rundown.
Cleveland tried to give the Yankees new life in the bottom of the frame.
Cody Bellinger was on first base with two out when Trent Grisham popped up in front of the plate down the third base line.
Ramirez bumped Bailey, the catcher, who dropped it to extend the inning, but Volpe grounded out.
Camilo Doval allowed a three-run double to Bazzana to seal it for the Guardians.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
