Holmes Blows Another Save. St Louis 4 Yankees 3

August 6, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0
Gleyber Torres beats out an infield hit for an RBI, scoring Aaron Judge from 3rd

With 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th and the Yankees up 3-2, Clay Holmes walked a batter to put 1st and 2nd, and then allowed a bases-clearing double down the right field line to shortstop Paul DeJong to put St Louis ahead 4-3.

The blown save ruined another good start from Nestor Cortes Jr, who was in line for the win.

NY had jumped ahead 3-1 in the 5th inning, before the Cardinals closed to 3-2 with a run off Albert Abreu in the 6th that was charged to Cortes.

Holmes had just blown a save earlier in the week and is pitching to an 11.05 ERA in his last 8 games — allowing 9 earned runs in 7.1 innings. That after having a 0.46 ERA in his first 38 outings (2 earned runs in 39.1 innings pitched) over which the Yanks were 35-3.

“Tough inning, especially when I thought Clay threw the ball a lot better and was in command of what he was doing out there, for the most part,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards.

On a warm, summer Friday night in St Louis.

NY is now 9-14 in their last 23. Still, however, they are 70-37, 10.5 games in 1st over Toronto, 12.5 over Tampa, 14.5 over Baltimore, and 16.5 over Boston. St Louis improves to 58-48, in a 1st place tie with Milwaukee in the NL Central.

1. Carpenter Hero’s Return

The game started out with a rousing standing ovation for former Cardinal Matt Carpenter from the sold-out crowd — over 46,000 in attendance.

He graciously returned the ovation and then slapped a single to right in the top of the 1st off Dakota Hudson to send DJ LaMahieu to 3rd with 1 out.

Josh Donaldson then doubled to deep right center to make it 1-0 Yankees.

2. Cortes Terrific Again

Good news for the Yanks — Nestor Cortes Jr was brilliant again. He allowed only 1 hit — but 4 walks — in 5.1 innings.

The hit was a 2-out single to center by Yadier Molina in the 3rd that tied the score 1-1 (Cortes having walked 2 to put runners on 1st and 2nd).

Up 3-1 in the 6th, he walked Paul Goldschmidt with 1 out and was relieved by Albert Abreu.

Abreu threw a wild pitch and allowed 2 singles — the later one by left fielder Tyler O’Neil producing a run to make it 3-2.

3. Carpenter-Donaldson Do It Again in 3rd

The Yanks got back on top in the 3rd with an Aaron Judge leadoff single, Matt Carpenter single (again) and Josh Donaldson RBI single.

4. Judge Small Ball Makes It 3-1 NY

Aaron Judge led off the 5th with a single, stole 2nd, went to 3rd on a Matt Carpenter groundout, and scored when Gleyber Torres beat out an infield hit.

The Yanks could have scored an insurance run in the top of the 8th but Josh Donaldson was ROBBED on a great catch on the run heading to right center by Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbar.

5. Holmes Blows It

Scott Effross pitched a shutout 7th for the Yankees, and oddly, manager Aaron Boone brought in Clay Holmes to pitch the bottom of the 8th instead of the 9th.

Yankee Twitter was speculating if Holmes was in for the 2-inning save, and thinking about the Jordan Montgomery trade that caused Clarke Schmidt to be unavailable to set up — as he was sent to AAA to ‘lengthen out’ so he could assume a place in the starting rotation. Eyes were also on Aroldis Chapman in the bullpen — would he pitch the 9th?

It all became mute when, with 2 outs and a runner on (due to an infield single), Holmes walked O’Neill on a 3-2 pitch to put 1st and 2nd, 2 out — and DeJong ripped a double down the line in right to make it 4-3 St Louis.

The Yanks got a runner on in the 9th with 1 out (LeMahieu walked) but Aaron Judge popped out and ironically, Matt Carpenter grounded out — just barely not beating the throw at 1st — for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • Anthony Rizzo was a late scratch with a bad back.
  • Aaron Judge, Matt Carpenter, and Josh Donaldson all had 2 hits. NY outhit St Louis 10 to 5.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355816

 

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