The Yankees took a heartbreaking L on Opening Day, falling 3-2 in 10 innings to Toronto in a game where they had quite a few chances to break it open. Unfortunately, it was not to be, but let’s take a look at five takeaways from what happened in the loss:
RISP wasn’t crisp
The Yankees’ two runs came on a Gary Sanchez homer, with Gleyber Torres on first base. Put a runner on second, though, and the Yankees went 0-9 with RISP and left 10 on base, no collection of those more egregious than the ninth inning rally that wasn’t and tenth inning where Toronto’s defense didn’t see any action.
Mike Tauchman stole second one pitch after entering the game as a pinch-runner in the ninth, and Aaron Judge took second thanks to the new extra innings rule to start the tenth – and the Yankees got nothing to show for it. In addition, the top six batters in the order were 2-for-26 with 12 strikeouts – including the final four outs of the game – and had five of those at-bats in the 0-for-9 with RISP.
“We’ll be fine,” Boone said when asked if he was worried about his offense’s performance. “We had our chances, and were a hit or two away from having a big game. As long as we can continue to post, we’ll get that rolling sooner rather than later.”
Aaron Boone will be aggressive
The Yankees skipper emptied his bench in the final 1 ½ innings to try to win the game, but just didn’t push the right buttons. Tauchman, pinch-running for Sanchez, stole second and third in the ninth, and Boone used Brett Gardner to run for Clint Frazier later in the inning to try to steal another run, but Tauchman was cut down on a contact play at the plate. Come the tenth, Boone also brought in Tyler Wade for defense – perhaps in the wrong spot in the order, though – to officially empty his bench. In all those moves, he took three potential big offensive weapons out of the game, all in the name of trying to capitalize on a rare opportunity.
The same aggressiveness went for the bullpen, as Boone brought in Chad Green – whom many thought would be the nominal closer today and Saturday with Aroldis Chapman out – in a big spot in the sixth inning. Green, at least, got it done, inducing a double play and then pitching a scoreless seventh, and then Boone went to Jonathan Loaisiga and Darren O’Day – perhaps the top relievers in the pecking order right now – for the eighth and ninth, trying to use the best arms for the biggest outs.
Gary was Scary good…
A two-run homer in his first at-bat, an infield single in his third, and a walk to set up the potential final rally in the ninth? A great 2-for-3 day for Sanchez, much-maligned as the spring went on. He also made an excellent play to throw out Randal Grichuk stealing, picking a ball out of the dirt and firing a strike that tailed to the second base side of the bag, leaving DJ LeMahieu in perfect position to make a tag.
“It was good to see him come out like that. He did a good job behind the plate and worked well with Gerrit, and had a big caught stealing there,” Boone said. “At the plate he was excellent, on-time and recognizing the pitches. He had good batting practice yesterday, and today, he was dangerous in all his at-bats.”
“I’ve spoken about consistency before, and I think I had that in all my at-bats today,” Sanchez added through his interpreter. “It was a good game behind the plate as well.”
…but Judge did not rise to the occasion
Aaron Judge hadn’t played in a week thanks to scheduled off days and an illness, and perhaps some rust showed. Judge was 1-for-5 at the plate, but in his last two at-bats, he grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh and struck out with two on and two out in the ninth, failing in two big spots to break the game open or win it on a walk-off. Then, just a few pitches after he ended the ninth, Judge misplayed a hard-hit ball off the bat of Grichuk, as it went over his head on the fly and then again on the carom off the wall, allowing Jonathan Davis to easily score what went on to be the winning run.
“Wasn’t the result we wanted…frustrating when you don’t come up big for your team,” Judge said. “In the seventh I just have to get a ball in the air there to give us the lead, and in the ninth, just get the ball the other way and let the guys run. Let the team down twice there, and then that ball over my head, another missed opportunity on my part.”
Gleyber Day needs more D
Gleyber Torres did not make an error in the field today, but he did have a few questionable plays. In the second inning, he was unable to make a sliding stop in the hole on an admittedly tough play, and in the ninth, he was unable to cleanly field a hopper to short that gave Teoscar Hernandez an infield hit.
The first play helped lead to Toronto’s first run – the next batter hit an RBI single – and the one in the ninth gave Toronto their leadoff runner on, although that damage was minimized. That said, Boone did have a couple of critiques about Torres’ maiden voyage at shortstop in 2021.
“The base hit in the hole, that’s kind of a do-or-die play,” Boone said. “On the ball up the middle from Hernandez, just not an aggressive enough angle. I thought he laid back on the ball a bit and needed to take a better angle with a little more urgency.”
The Yankees now have about 48 hours to ruminate on it all, and will be back in action Saturday at 1:05 p.m. Corey Kluber will be on the mound, and we’ll have full coverage on WFAN starting at 12:25 p.m.
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