For the entire season, the Yankees’ offense has been described as home run or bust, and during ESPN’s Wild Card Game broadcast, even Alex Rodriguez noted the lack of walks allowed by Boston pitching helping keep traffic off the bases.
In the end? Two home runs but zero walks for the Yankees, and a 6-2 loss in the Wild Card Game ending their season.
“The guys are crushed. Unfortunately we’ve been in this position where we’ve been in the playoffs every year but it hasn’t ended how we wanted, and tonight was another tough one to take,” said manager Aaron Boone. “We’ve been through a lot of wars with guys in that room, and the guys are bummed.
They poured a lot into this.”
The blame could fall on Gerrit Cole, who, at a $36 million salary for 183 1/3 total innings this season, made just under $400K to throw a clunker when the Yankees needed it the least. Cole lasted just three batters into the third, leaving down 3-0 with no one on and two outs in a very non-ace performance.
“I thought the stuff was there, and it seemed like he got his slider going early, but a changeup leaked back in the middle to Bogaerts, and then Schwarber was able to get to a heater,” Boone said. “A little bit of a grind for him, and getting hurt with some slug with pitches that leaked back over the middle. “Obviously, tonight wasn’t a night where you get settled in and see what happens; a couple misfires they made him pay, and I went out and got him.”
“I’m sick to my stomach about (the performance), but we needed to get a ground ball double play right there, and there’s probably no one more equipped on our team to get that than Clay Holmes, so we did what we had to do to try to win,” Cole added.
Related
Cole went 1-2 with an 8.24 ERA overall in his last four starts this season, and his failure in Boston continued another unwanted lineage: he finished with 14 earned runs in 18 innings over four starts at Fenway Park this season.
“If I had a common denominator, I’d have gotten out in front of it for this game,” Cole said of his recent struggles. “We evaluate each game individually, and it just wasn’t the same answer every time.”
The bullpen allowed three runs late, too, but even without them, the game was out of reach because that boom or bust offense was mostly bust. Giancarlo Stanton went 3-for-4 with two singles and a window-dressing home run in the ninth, but the entire rest of the team was 3-for-28 with 10 strikeouts (Stanton’s lone out was a K to make it 11 total), only even seeing a couple of three-ball counts.
“We weren’t able to get anything going or scratch out any runs,” said Aaron Judge. “Some guys were swinging the bat well, but we were hitting balls right at guys, and it just didn’t go our way.”
Listen to New York sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Yankees team gear
One of those hits was a single by Aaron Judge ahead of Stanton’s second hit of the night in the sixth, but in a play the Yankees and the fans will be re-living all winter, third base coach Phil Nevin sent Judge on the banger off the Green Monster, and a perfect relay from Kike Hernandez to Xander Bogaerts to Kevin Plawecki cut down Judge by a good 10 feet at the plate.
The Yankees’ 22 outs at home plate tied Kansas City for the most in MLB in 2021, and this one may have sunk the season.
“I think coming in, the ball coming in looked like it was going to be an in-between hop, so I think what Phil saw was what he thought would be a tough chance,” Boone explained. “Bogaerts did a good job of catching it clean and throwing home to squash a potential rally.”
“It was bang-bang, and they needed two relatively perfect throws to get him out, so you take the chance there,” Stanton added. “It was an important point that definitely changed the momentum, but at the same time, these are games where you just keep fighting. That could’ve changed the course of the game if we got the run there with one out and me on second, but that’s how it goes.
Related
Other than that? An infield single by Gio Urshela and an Anthony Rizzo homer around the Pesky Pole was all the mighty Yankees had to show for the biggest game of the season, and Stanton’s ninth-inning dinger was the only baserunner Boston allowed after that defensive gem in the sixth.
No regrets from Boone on the lineup composition that had Anthony Rizzo leading off and Joey Gallo cleanup behind Judge and Stanton, they just didn’t collectively get it done.
“I’ve been playing this game long enough to know that nothing should surprise you. We played a really good team we’ve played 20 times, and they’ve faced Gerrit quite a bit and they were able to get to him early,” said Brett Gardner. “I wasn’t at my best tonight either.”
Credit that in part to former Yankee turned Red Sox ace Nathan Eovaldi, who was pulled after allowing Judge’s single in the sixth but allowed just one run on four hits and fanned eight over 71 pitches, a stark contrast from the seven earnies he allowed against the Yankees a couple weeks back.
Related
“He has great stuff; his fastball gets up to 100 and cuts it, and he had his Curve and splitter going and was able to change speeds, and he’s a great strike thrower,” Boone said. He fills up the zone, and got a lead there and was able to take advantage. He’s one of the best in the league because he has the tools, and also has command. Last time he didn’t have his splitter or curve, but tonight he did and got in a good rhythm.
“He was working all his pitches, and when you can put 100 wherever you want it, that’s going to make the off-speed a lot better,” Giancarlo Stanton added.
And so, a season that was one of the most roller-coaster campaigns in memory ends on the downslope, the Yankees pulling into the final station after just one postseason game, heading home for a long winter – one Boone had a quick reflection on just after it ended.
“I’m always grateful to be able to compete with that group, and one of the things I’m most proud of is what we did in a challenging year,” Boone said. “I love the way we competed, and when we had to play well the final two months and compete at a high level, we did that and gave ourselves a chance to do something special in October.”
Related
But to quote and then paraphrase Shakespeare, indeed, now is the winter of our discontent, after a summer made glorious by a walk-off in New York.
Said Brett Gardner, the longest-tenured Yankee who also may have played his last game as one: “It’s a tough game; there’s 28 other teams that will end the season as we did; some maybe not with as high of expectations, but only one team goes home happy, and that won’t be us. Obviously frustrated that we weren’t able to see it through, and I’ve felt this too often, but we knew what we were up against. A disappointing finish to the season, and just another reminder how difficult this game can be.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch