A Flat Loss. Reasons Why Boston 5 NY 3 on 6-25-21

June 26, 2021 paperbacklou 2021 0

Domingo German came out with a flat curveball and got banged up for 3 runs in the 1st inning, and the Boston bullpen flattened the Yankee lineup to cause this rather flat, 5-3 loss on a Friday night at Fenway.

On top of it, the Yankees tied the game after German’s initial beating, but then fell behind due to a German fielding error — then they almost tied it again except Gio Urshela was out at the plate trying to score on a double with 0 outs — 3rd base coach Phil Nevin giving him a bad green light at 3rd.

And topping it off, two of the Boston relievers who beat NY were ex-Yankees, given away for nothing this winter.

And finally, Zack Britton injured his hamstring and will be out a while.

The loss flattened the Yankee hopes a bit; Tampa won so the Yanks fell to 5 behind Tampa; 4.5 behind Boston.

It was just flat.

Everything was flat.

1. German Was Flat

Domingo German came out in the bottom of the 1st and allowed leadoff single, single, lineout, double to score 2 runs and it was Boston 2-0 just like that. He struck out Rafael Devers but then Renfroe doubled to Deep centerfield and it was 3-0 Boston.

This was “the German we saw in Philadelphia. Flat pitches in the hitter’s wheelhouse,” noted Jed Weisberger at the time on Twitter.

German got banged around by Oakland in his last start (4 runs on 7 hits in 4 innings) and got ripped by Philly before that (7 runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings) and the thought that sprung into your head was that maybe German is affected by the new rule of no more Sticky substances.

He allowed a leadoff single in the 2nd but then settled down to motor through the inning.

But then in the 3rd — staked to a 3-3 tie by the Yankee offense — allowed Boston to get ahead without getting a hit — he allowed a leadoff walk then made an error on a grounder back to him on the mound, which led to a sac fly and Boston 4-3 lead.

German cruised through a 1-2-3 4th before leaving. So at least he finished well.

“Bad day for me today,” said Domingo German afterwards. “It’s frustrating because when you’re having a bad day, it’s even harder to find the answers right after the game.”

“I thought it took a minute to get his secondary going,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “He missed some spots with this fastball again. I thought stuff wise he was fine, and in line with what he is when he’s really good. And then I thought he got going; he started settling in, found his breaking ball, started to locate the fastball a little bit better, but obviously a tough start there for him.”

2. Yanks Immediately Tied it 3-3 in the 2nd

The Yanks came right back in the top of the 2nd against Boston starter Martin Perez — Giancarlo Stanton walked, Luke Voit singled, and then with 1 out Xander Boegarts made an error to load the bases. Miguel Andujar struck out for 2 outs, bases loaded, but Clint Frazier walked and DJ LeMahieu singled in 2 to tie it 3-3.

3. Nevin Sends Urshela with Nobody Out

Gio Urshela led off the 4th with a double, and Miguel Andujar singled. Yanks 3rd base coach gave Urshela the green light rounding 3rd. He was out at the plate. There was nobody out. Urshela was just coming off a hamstring injury. It was a bad send and was the play of the game.

It is a good thing Boston got an insurance run in the 8th because otherwise the finger of blame would have been pointed even more strongly at Nevin.

4. Loaisiga Strikes Out 4 in the 7th

Jonathan Loaisiga tied a Yankee record (held by Phil Hughes and AJ Burnett) by striking out 4 batters in the 7th — he struck out Michael Chavis but threw a wild pitch in doing so and Chavis was safe at 1st, then struck out Alex Verdugo, JD Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts.

5. Boston Bullpen Flattens Yanks

Perez was lifted in the 4th and the Boston bullpen came in and was lights out.

Hirokazu Sawamura came in with his nasty splitter and shut the Yanks out in the 5th.

Former Yankee Garrett Whitlock came in with his 95 to 98-MPH sinker and 82-MPH changeup to mow down the Yankee hitters in the 6th and 7th. The Yankees lost him to Boston this winter in the Rule 5 draft, which means the Yankees did not protect him on their 40-man roster and the Red Sox snapped him up.

Adam Ottavino shut the Yanks out in the 8th.

Matt Barnes allowed a leadoff single to Gio Urshela in the 9th, then a single to Andujar and the Yanks were in business with 1st and 2nd, nobody out.

Some thought the Yanks might sacrifice the runners to 2nd and 3rd — but they didn’t — Clint Frazier struck out, and then DJ LeMahieu grounded into a ballgame-ending double play.

5. Britton Out with Hamstring

Zack Britton got the 1st out of the 8th, but then pulled his hamstring and had to leave the game.

Luis Cessa came in cold and allowed a walk, out, single, single for a Boston insurance run, 5-3.

Etcetera

  • Miguel Andujar went 3-4 to raise his average to .260 (.286 OBP)
  • Luke Voit went 2-4 and is batting .230 (.309 OBP)
  • Aaron Judge went 0-4 but played an excellent centerfield, making several nice catches by the wall, effortlessly. Aaron Boone mentioned it afterwards, “he is so fundamentally sound out there. I thought he made a couple of plays look relatively seemless tonite in center.”

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401228184

 

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*