It was indeed a rough month for the Yankees, who had a favorable schedule but failed to take advantage of their competition.
Things couldn’t go the New York Yankees way, as they concluded the month of August with another series loss. Just recently, the Yankees were handed another series loss by the St. Louis Cardinals. Entering the series, St. Louis was another team that has played poorly all year long. It should have been an easy sweep, but you know how this Yankees team is. As a result of this series loss, they are now 4-5 in their last three series games, which includes the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, and now the Cardinals.
New York had plenty of opportunities to build some cushion in the AL East but failed to do so. As a result of their struggles, the Baltimore Orioles are right behind them with a half-game difference entering Monday. September doesn’t get any easier. The Yankees will play some teams that are also playoff hopefuls. These teams include the Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Boston Red Sox, and Seattle Mariners. The Yankees also have one series left with the Orioles. Getting to the point, there’s no room left for the Yankees, as the playoffs inch closer. They will now travel to Texas, to take on the defending champion Rangers, who are also struggling as well.
Austin Wells Continues to Stay Hot
After a rough couple of months, C Austin Wells has indeed found ways to get hot. Due to his recent performance, he has been rewarded more playing time. It was obvious that he has deserved it. New York may have found their next future catcher based on the way things have been trending. But C Jose Trevino will still get some reps at catcher despite Wells being the better player at the moment since every team uses multiple backstops. On Friday, Wells went deep twice to power the Yankees 6-3 victory over the Cardinals. He tied his career high with four RBIs, and his 12 homers are the second most by a rookie catcher since Gary Sanchez back in 2016. But he wasn’t the only storyline for that win over St. Louis.
RHP Marcus Stroman, who has been doing well in last couple of starts, also contributed. Despite giving up nine hits, he gave the team seven strong innings. That was enough to put him in line for the win. In his last four outings, he has gotten through at least five innings. Three of those outings resulted in Yankees wins. Stroman has now improved to 10-6 and has lowered his ERA to 3.81. This is what the Yankees were expecting out of Stroman when they signed him.
Yankees Late Rally Falls Shorts
Going up for the Yankees in the second game of the series was rookie RHP Will Warren. He began by pitching two scoreless innings. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t last any longer. He got himself into trouble in the third inning. After allowing a leadoff walk to CF Victor Scott II, Warren allowed back-t0-back hits, and one of them resulted in an RBI single by 3B Nolan Arenado. Later on, things started to get out of hand. Warren gave up a three-run bomb to UTL Brendon Donovan to make it 4-1. St. Louis tried to add in another run, but OF Alex Verdugo prevented them from scoring again on a relay throw that gunned 1B Paul Goldschmidt out at home.
Warren’s day would ultimately end after 4.0 innings pitched. As for the offense, the team couldn’t get anything going until the bottom of the second. After a leadoff double from Wells, he would then score on SS Anthony Volpe’s RBI single two batters later. After St. Louis extended the lead to 6-1, New York wouldn’t score again until the bottom of the eighth inning. Anthony Volpe got another RBI single to make it 6-2. He would score on DH Giancarlo Stanton’s bases-clearing double to make it 6-5. The hit by Stanton looked like it was going to be deep enough for a grand slam. Unfortunately, the ball stayed in the ballpark, and the Yankees failed tie the game.
Yankees Blown Away in Series Finale
Sunday was a tough one to watch for Yankees fans. Going up for New York was LHP Nestor Cortes. In his last couple of starts, he has been pitching decently. Unfortunately, yesterday just did not go his way. He was charged with five earned runs on nine hits through four innings pitched. The bullpen was not any better either. In fact, they made things worse as they took over. Four of the six Yankees relievers allowed runs, leading to a total of 14 for the road team.
The only positive of this game was the offense. They were able to score seven times, but it was not enough to hold off the Cardinals. The game was tied at seven after six innings, but then the Red Birds put up a five spot in the seventh and two in the ninth.
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