The Yankees lost consecutive games for the first time in three weeks when they dropped a second straight to Cincinnati on Sunday in The Bronx.
And while they have larger plans in mind, which is why they pushed Gerrit Cole and the rest of the rotation back a day and are moving top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange into the bullpen at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, that doesn’t make Sunday much easier to stomach.
Following Saturday’s sluggish defeat, the Yankees put on a similarly messy display to finish the homestand.
Despite six stolen bases, they made some ugly errors due in part to players playing where they shouldn’t be and their lack of depth in the lineup without Aaron Judge was apparent again in a 4-1 loss at the Stadium.
In Cole’s place was Elmer Rodríguez, who nearly gave the Yankees what they wanted, but saw his afternoon ruined by a two-out, three-run homer by Tyler Stephenson in the fourth inning.
That, coupled with the Yankees unable to break through against the Reds pitching again, was enough to do them in.
Against Chase Burns, who entered the game fourth in the majors with an ERA of 2.01, the Yankees got just a solo homer from Ben Rice in the third.
And after going hitless in 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position on Saturday, they went 0-for-9 Sunday.
Rodríguez, in his fourth start for the Yankees, survived a scoreless first without much help from his teammates.
Blake Dunn led off with a flare single to center and JJ Bleday reached on a catcher’s interference by Austin Wells, just back from the IL.
After a Nathaniel Lowe groundout, Rodríguez got Sal Stewart to hit a grounder to second, where Jazz Chisholm Jr. was slow to get the ball to Anthony Volpe at the base and they were unable to turn a double play.
Rodríguez whiffed Spencer Steer to end the threat.
The Yankees squandered their first scoring chance in the bottom of the inning, as Chisholm popped out with Cody Bellinger on second and Jasson Domínguez at third.
Rice gave the Yankees the lead with his fourth homer in seven games, a one-out solo shot in the third after Volpe was picked off first base.
Volpe argued that first baseman Sal Stewart interfered with him getting back to the bag, to no avail.
The Reds got to Rodríguez in the fourth.
Nathaniel Lowe walked to start the inning, but Rodríguez struck out Steer and Eugenio Suarez.
Noelvi Marte extended the inning with a base hit to right before Stephenson went deep to left on a 3-1 four-seamer to give Cincinnati a 3-1 lead.
It was the first homer allowed in Rodríguez’s young career.
A Yankee offense that had been clicking even without Judge was stifled for a second straight game- especially in clutch situations.
They got Burns out of the game after five innings by forcing the right-hander to throw 96 pitches and against lefty Sam Moll, got a two-out walk from Caballero and a pinch-hit single by Amed Rosario.
The Yankees went to their bench again, sending Paul Goldschmidt up for Austin Wells, but Goldschmidt flied to right to keep it a two-run game.
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With Spencer Jones out of the game- having been pinch-hit for by Max Schuemann in the sixth, as well- the Yankees played the rest of the way with the unusual outfield alignment of Schuemann in left, Caballero in center and Domínguez in right, where he still doesn’t look good.
That was especially evident in the ninth, when a grounder up the middle by Steer, which got by Chisholm and into center, turned into a double and a throwing error by Caballero. Steer scored on a ground-rule double by Marte after Domínguez took an awkward route to the ball.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
