You can’t win ’em all. Especially if you don’t score any runs. The Yankees lost the final game of the 4-game set against Seattle at The Stadium on a summer Sunday afternoon, 2-0. New York won 3 of the 4 games but couldn’t figure out how to score a run against Yusei Kikuchi (whom they hit hard) and the Seattle bullpen (which stifled them). The loss broke the Yankees’ 5-game winning streak.
The good news:
- Luis Gil pitched another 5 shutout innings as the starter, impressing with his 98-MPH heater with movement, and his secondary pitches;
- Big 6’8″ Stephen Ridings impressed again — striking out 3;
- Albert Abreu looked good again with a shutout inning; and
- Gleyber Torres went 3-4 — getting 3 of the Yanks 6 hits.
The bad news: the Yankees lost and Gleyber Torres injured his thumb sliding into 2nd and is undergoing an MRI — Aaron Boone said he was concerned, and Gleyber might be out a while.
1. Gil Great Again
Luis Gil (pronounced ‘heel’ as in gila monster, which is also pronounced “heel” if you didn’t know it) was great again — his 2nd start in the big leagues. In the first one he pitched 6 shutout innings; in this one he pitched 5 shutout innings. That’s 11 shutout innings in the big leagues so far.
8 Ks for the King of the Gil 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Bl0K1HvDRt
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 8, 2021
“Today he wasn’t as sharp as his first time out,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “His first time out when he went 6, he had great command with everything. Today he was actually a little more scattered but made a lot of really important pitches. So that was encouraging to see — when he wasn’t at his most dominant, you still see the swing and miss that he has — the stuff is still there, and he made pitches when he had to. And when he got himself into a little bit of a situation, he was able to find the strike zone and that was encouraging to see.”
2. Yanks Hit Shots But Couldn’t Crack Kikuchi
The Yanks smoked some balls on Kikuchi but Kyle Seager made some great plays at 3rd and the Yanks couldn’t break through.
3. Seattle Scored 2 Unearned Runs in the 7th
The score was 0-0 in the top of the 8th, when Abraham Toro led off against Lucas Luetge with a grounder to 3rd that Rougned Odor muffed for an error. Luetge then walked Mike Haniger and Kyle Seager ripped a grounds rule double to right for a 1-0 Seattle lead.
With 2nd and 3rd nobody out, Luetge got tough, striking out Ty France and Jarred Kelenic. Luetge was a strike away from getting out of further trouble, but Cal Raleigh hit a 2-strike pitch for a single to left for what looked like 2 runs — Joey Gallo threw a strike to home and nailed the second runner (Seager) who was called safe — but on review he was called out.
So it was only 2-0 Seattle but that ended up being enough — the Yanks could not score any runs against Mariner relievers Casey Sadler, Paul Sewald, Drew Steckenrider.
4. Ridings & Abreu Impress Again
More good news despite the loss — Stephen Ridings pitched the 7th and struck out 3. The big 6’8 righty looks like Big Bird and pitches like Goose Gossage.
Ridings ringing 'em up. pic.twitter.com/YDhGEL6XoZ
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 8, 2021
And then Albert Abreu threw a shutout 9th, striking out 2 and looking impressive again.
So there were good takeaways from this loss.
Etcetera
- Before the game, Anthony Rizzo was placed on the COVID 10-day IL. Serendipitously, Luke Voit came off the COVID IL and played 1st base for NY.
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