NEW YORK — The New York Yankees were booed in the ninth inning of Friday night’s game after closer Clay Holmes gave up a two-run home run to Masataka Yoshida, the game-tying walk-off with a full count and two outs. But the sellout crowd had plenty of opportunities to boo before the ninth-inning debacle.
The Yankees’ most embarrassing performance of the season began in the third inning with a Little League blunder. With runners on first and third and one out, rookie hitter Ben Rice hit a chopper to Red Sox first baseman Romy Gonzalez. Gonzalez stepped on the bag and sent the ball to second to retire DJ LeMahieu for a 3-3-6 double play, ending the inning. There were two major blunders on the play. The first: Anthony Volpe, the runner on third base, could have scored once Gonzalez stepped on first base. The Red Sox had to pull LeMahieu because the force play was gone. But Volpe didn’t keep running. He walked the final few yards to home as he watched LeMahieu get pulled.
Volpe told reporters that he thought it was a foul ball, even though the first-base umpire immediately signaled it was fair, the Red Sox threw the ball to second base for a possible double play, and the play was in front of the Yankees shortstop’s line of sight. Volpe blamed his inability to score on his not knowing what had happened.
“I think there was confusion about what was right and what was wrong,” he said.
Anthony Volpe took his time not touching the house before DJ LeMahieu was tagged pic.twitter.com/ho3gfmV9KK
— Talkin’ Yankees (@TalkinYanks) July 6, 2024
Despite Volpe’s running error, he still could have scored if LeMahieu hadn’t immediately gone between first and second base. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the “ideal thing” would have been for LeMahieu to have gotten into running position, allowing Volpe to score. Instead, LeMahieu was removed without any effort to force a run. LeMahieu was unavailable for comment because he was undergoing treatment, a team spokesman said. Boone said he spoke with Volpe about the need to finish the game, but did not mention whether he had a conversation with LeMahieu about being better on the bases.
Before that baserunning error, LeMahieu barely reached first base on a ground ball he hit up the middle. Both Red Sox infielders struggled to catch and exchange the potential double-play ball LeMahieu hit. He failed to get out of the batter’s box and barely beat the throw to first base. Boone said he didn’t see LeMahieu’s lack of energy when asked if he was frustrated by the veteran’s lack of speed down the first-base line. Replays showed LeMahieu speeding a few steps past first base.
“It’s frustrating, isn’t it? He was pushing himself,” Boone said.
Looks like DJ LeMahieu assumed it was going to be a routine double play, so he barely managed to beat it. pic.twitter.com/EWBf73O7Fi
— Talkin’ Yankees (@TalkinYanks) July 6, 2024
A little over a week ago, Boone benched Gleyber Torres after he failed to rush a weakly hit ground ball against the New York Mets. He called Torres’ benching a “reset” for his batting struggles and said his lack of drive was “one of the things that definitely caught my attention.” Yet on Friday, Boone defended LeMahieu’s effort.
The Yankees’ mistakes didn’t stop there. In the eighth inning, with a runner on first base, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a ball that landed directly in front of home plate. Yankees catcher Austin Wells failed to make a good throw to second base for the forceout. As the throw was low, the ball ricocheted off Oswaldo Cabrera’s glove. Two batters later, reliever Luke Weaver threw a pickoff attempt into center field. Weaver got out of trouble, but it was another display of sloppy baseball.
The Yankees began to lose their footing starting in the ninth inning when Holmes threw seven straight sinkers to Yoshida before the eighth straight found the right-field seats. Holmes said he didn’t consider throwing a slider, his best swing-and-miss pitch, to Yoshida because the sinker registers a low slugging percentage for opposing hitters. The sinker is a pitch designed to make soft contact, but those are the risks Holmes runs when he doesn’t opt for a whiff pitch.
“I thought Clay was really good,” Boone said. “They made him work even when he was striking out batters and wasting pitches. Then finally he got a try in the middle of the field right next to Yoshida and he didn’t miss it. Credit to him for not missing it. I think the foul ball count and not being able to finish a guy hurt us tonight.”
MR CLUTCH!! pic.twitter.com/fT6OLKMY0H
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 6, 2024
With the game in overtime, the Yankees turned to Tommy Kahnle, who immediately gave up a two-run home run to Rafaela, giving Boston a 5-3 lead. Kahnle, a versatile pitcher, went for back-to-back fastballs against Rafaela, who made no mistake.
The Yankees still had a chance to win in the bottom of the 10th inning. They had two runners on base with no outs. Aaron Judge fouled out. Alex Verdugo hit a fly ball into the infield. And Cabrera grounded to first base to end the game, 5-3.
The Yankees have now lost 15 of their last 20 games. Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes said he didn’t think anyone was panicking in the locker room. Volpe attributed the team’s prolonged struggles to the ups and downs of the baseball schedule. Boone said he believes the three-week stretch of poor play was due to failing to capitalize on certain moments in each game.
Friday night’s game was a bad one for the second straight game, with the team looking flat and lackadaisical. Center fielder Trent Grisham failed to catch a clean hit in the ninth inning of Thursday’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Boone said it was a play Grisham had to make, but he had no problem with the Gold Glove outfielder looking like he wasn’t taking the game seriously because he plays with a “slow heart rate.”
With the lack of urgency and sloppiness on full display throughout Friday’s loss, Boone was asked if he was concerned about his team’s lack of basic fundamentals.
“We have to play better than that. That’s for sure,” he said. “We understand that and we’re investing a lot in that area. We have to play clean baseball, especially when it’s tough and things are hard to come by. We have to be better, period.”
Two years ago, when the Yankees were eliminated in the American League Championship Series, Boone showed his team highlights of the Boston Red Sox’ comeback from three games down to win the 2004 ALCS to give his 2022 team hope that it, too, could still beat the Houston Astros in seven games.
No replay of that game will be shown to motivate the 2024 Yankees in what was their worst loss of the season to date.
“We have to get our act together and get ready quickly (Saturday) to play and find out what we’re made of,” Boone said. “We’re going to be tested all the time with tough times in the season, which we definitely are right now. Extremely tough losses when you’re going through a period like that. This falls into that category. We have to turn the page quickly and come out and finish a game.”
(Photo of Ceddanne Rafaela attempting to tag DJ LeMahieu at second base in the third inning: Vincent Carchietta/USA Today)
