The Yankees lost to the last-place Tigers again. That means NY loses the 3-game series even if they take the final game. It is the second straight series loss after having had a 10-game stretch where they didn’t lose a series. Detroit is 21-31.
The worse news was that Deivi Garcia pitched so so; he pitched well in certain innings, but got Hit in other innings, allowing 4 earned runs in 4.1 innings to send his ERA to 6.48, albiet in 8.1 innings so far.
1. Deivi Didn’t Have It — or Doesn’t Have It?
The question for this article was should the headline be “Deivi Didn’t Have It” or “Deivi Doesn’t Have It.” There’s a huge difference between the two.
Once again, Deivi pitched well at times — looked good for innings at a time — pitched to easy contact, got easy 1-2-3 innings — and then, at times got HIT — to allow the 4 earned runs (5 runs overall) in just 4.1 innings.
Deivi pitched:
- a 1-2-3 first inning,
- allowed runs in the 2nd on a hit by pitch, single, walk, single, and an error;
- pitched a 1-2-3 third inning;
- got Hit in the 4th (a triple for a run); then
- got Hit again in the 5th (back to back doubles) and was gone.
1️⃣ – 2️⃣ – 3️⃣ inning out the gate from Deivi. pic.twitter.com/Cr2ReGHMDe
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 29, 2021
Afterwards, Deivi said it was a grind out there on the mound today. He said he is usually much more consistent with his pitches; and that wasn’t the case today. And when that is the case, it is a grind.
Veteran baseball reporter Jed Weisberger tweeted, “What we got out of Garcia today was pretty much what he was doing at SWB. Command needs work.”
Boone’s Thoughts
“I thought it was a little bit of a struggle command wise,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Some good pitches, some that were just balls out of hand and things like that. I thought he battled for not being totally sharp. But like we always see with him, demeanor wise, and compete wise, he is not affected by what’s going on good or bad. But I thought he was a little bit inconsistent command wise.”
When asked if he had a plan for Deivi’s next start, Boone said Michael King pitches tomorrow (Sunday) and then ‘we’ll see’. Clearly King and Deivi are auditioning for the start spot left empty right now with Corey Kluber out for 2 months.
Deivi Currently Ranked Higher than Manoah
Reminder that the Yankees were shutout for 6 innings by Toronto’s young top prospect Alek Manoah a few days ago. The MLB Top Prospect list currently stands as follows:
- Clarke Schmidt is currently ranked #74 prospect.
- Deivi Garcia is currently ranked #84 prospect.
- Alek Manoah is currently ranked #96 prospect.
2. Rope-a-Doped in the 2nd
The Yanks loaded the bases with nobody out in the 2nd inning, but Miguel Andujar hit to a double play grounder, scoring a run — the only run they got.
Gleyber Torres scores the first run. Yankees lead the Tigers 1-0 headed to the bottom of the 2nd. pic.twitter.com/2OhA4f3Azv
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) May 29, 2021
You can argue that a bases loaded, nobody out situation should plate you one run and anything more than that is bonus so the Yanks got the run.
- Plating the run from 2nd is similar to having a leadoff double — you figure you can score him but it’s 50-50;
- Plating the run from 1st is like getting a leadoff walk and expecting to score that runner.
It’s not like the Yanks came out of the bases loaded, no out situation with no runs.
But the Yanks did have Detroit starter Spencer Turnbull on the ropes, and he ‘rope-a-doped’ them — he was Muhammed Ali; they were George Foreman.
After that Turnbull floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee — pitching shutout ball through 2 outs in the 6th — finishing with 5.2 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 6 strikeouts.
Turnbull is now 4-2 2.93. He is a 28-yr-old right hander who is considered one of Detroit’s better starters who is coming into his own. Turnbull was 4-4 3.97 last year after leading the American League in losses with a 3-17 4.61 in 2019.
3. Yankee Offense Didn’t Have It
Turnbull looked like Cy Young to the Yankee hitters — NY got 3 hits on the afternoon. Gary Sanchez got a hit — going 1-3 with a walk (good news!); DJ LeMahieu got a hit (1-4 he is at .263 with a .350 OBP); and Gleyber Torres got a hit (1-3 he is at .264 with a .346 OBP).
That was it. That was it for the Yankee offense.
Detroit threw 4 relievers at the yanks after Turnbull — and they pitched no-hit, shutout ball: Jose Cisnero, Daniel Norris, Kyle Funkhouser, and Joe Jimenez. all floated like butterflies (even the 6’3″ 270 lb Jimenez) and stung like bees (especially the 6’3″ 270 lb Jimenez).
4. Abreu Pitched Well After Horrid Start
Maybe the biggest highlight of the day for the Yanks was that Albert Abreu pitched well — 3.2 innings, 1 run on 2 hits; 3 strikeouts. He has now pitched 8.2 innings this year and has a 2.02 ERA.
Abreu came in during the 5th after Deivi Garcia had allowed two doubles to make it 4-1 Detroit. Abreu came in and threw a wild pitch to advance the runner to 3rd, where he scored on a sac fly to make it 5-1 (run charged to Deivi). Then Abreu allowed a homer to Schoop to make it 5-1. And then got a line out to end the inning.
But after that — Abreu cruised for 3 shutout innings — a 1-2-3 sixth, a 1-2-3 seventh, and an eighth inning where he allows a single but struck out the last two batters.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401227827
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