Volpe Fielding Miscues Offset HR’s by Judge, Stanton, Gleyber. Washington 6 NY 5

August 25, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0
Giancarlo Stanton hits homer to centerfield -- one of 4 hits on the day.

Aaron Judge hit another homer (his 4th in 2 days), Giancarlo Stanton hit a homer (going 4 for 5), and Gleyber Torres hit a homer, but they weren’t enough to counter two fielding miscues by Anthony Volpe — both coming with 2 outs, that opened up the door for 5 Washington runs.

Tommy Kahnle was ripped after Volpe’s error in a 4-run 7th, and Clay Holmes got into trouble again in the 9th, loading the bases, flubbing a ball, and allowing a run to put NY down 2 runs.

The Yanks rallied in the bottom of the 9th — but fell a hit short as Harrison Bader hit a drive to deep center with 2 on that looked like it might be a game-winning homer, but was caught on the run in the warning track.

And so it was another loss — NY’s 10th in their last 11 games. On a cloudy day that turned into a light rainy Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

“I thought we swung the bats well today,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Made a couple mistakes that show up in this game. Big G’s at bat where it’s 1st and 3rd and he scolds it to the 2nd baseman — that’s a play where you have a chance to put it away and it doesn’t go your way. It’s frustrating that you can’t finish it off especially where you get a lead and you know the back end of the bullpen is coming. But we have to move on; we have a tough trip starting tomorrow.”

NY falls to 61-66, 18 back of Baltimore, 16 behind Tampa, 8.5 behind Toronto, 6.5 behind Boston and 10 behind the Wild Card. The Nats improve to 59-69.

1. Judge HR in 1st Puts NY Up

The game started off in grand fashion with Aaron Judge hitting a homer on the first pitch to him — his 4th homer in 2 games, having hit 3 the night before. It was #28 for Judge, who missed 2 months with the toe injury.

Another angle:

2. Volpe Miscue Leads to Game-Tying Run

The most significant downer for the game was the fielding of Anthony Volpe, who is supposed to be the Yankees’ slick-fielding shortstop, and for the most part has been. Not on this afternoon, when his miscues cost the Yankees the game.

His first miscue came in the 3rd, on a grounder that should have ended the inning but instead allowed a run to score to tie the game 1-1.

Michael King started for NY and he allowed a lot of Hard contact — mostly for outs. He had a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd when he walked leftfielder Jake Alu to leadoff, who was sacrificed to 2nd. King got a strikeout for the 2nd out, but walked rightfielder Lane Thomas, and threw a wild pitch to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.

King got #3 hitter Joey Meneses to ground out to end the inning — but Anthony Volpe flubbed it and a run scored. 1-1 tie.

3. Gleyber HR Puts NY Up 3-1

Gleyber Torres immediately put NY back up with a 2-run homer off starter Patrick Corbin in the bottom of the 3rd after a DJ LeMahieu leadoff walk.

4. Yanks Coulda Had More

Kyle Higashioka led off the bottom of the 2nd with a double, but ran himself into an out at 3rd on an Oswald Peraza ground out. Peraza was then picked off while trying to steal 2nd.

DJ LeMahieu led off the bottom of the 5th with a single and Aaron Judge walked on 5 pitches to put 1st and 2nd, nobody out. A Gleyber Torres groundout made it 1st and 3rd, 1 out.

But in the play that Boone mentioned in his post-game interview (above), Giancarlo Stanton hit a rocket grounder to 2nd that was turned into a double play.

5. Middleton & Brito Good in the Middle

Keynan Middleton relieved King after the Volpe error in the 3rd, getting the final out and pitching a shutout 4th.

Jhony Brito came in to pitch a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th and 6th.

6. Volpe’s Failed Play & Kahnle’s Opens up 4-Run Floodgate in 7th

Brito allowed a leadoff double to Carter Kieboom to start the 7th, but then got Ildemaro Vargas to foul out. Brito was pitching well but manager Aaron Boone brought in Tommy Kahnle and he struck out catcher Riley Adams for the 2nd out.

Then came the hard-hit shot to Volpe, which looked for a second like the final out of the inning — but it ricocheted off his glove for a single to center and a run scored.

Next batter Alex Call homered to center for a 4-3 Washington lead.

Next batter Abrams homered to right to put Washington up 5-3.

Kahnle got the final out with a strikeout but the damage was done.

7. Stanton HR Makes It a Game

Giancarlo Stanton — 4 for 5 on the day — hit a 417-foot homer to center leading off the 8th to make it a 5-4 game.

Everson Pereira followed Stanton with a 2-out double in the 8th — his first hit in the Majors. He represented the tying run in scoring position, but pinch hitter Jake Bauers struck out against reliever Kyle Finnegan.

8. Holmes Makes It Harder

Clay Holmes dug the hole 2-runs deep again in the top of the 9th. Holmes got a ground out, then allowed a single right — but batter Jake Alu was out at second on a strong throw from Judge. He was initially called safe but was ruled out after a replay review.

Two outs, nobody on.

Holmes then allowed a single, infield single, and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases.

A nubber down 3rd by Meneses was muffed by Holmes and a run scored. There was light rain and the ground was wet — but it was Washington 6 NY 4.

Finally Holmes got a groundout to Volpe at shortstop to end the inning.

9. Bader to Deep Centerfield…

With the Yanks now down 2 runs, Oswald Peraza led off the bottom of the 9th with a single, but then DJ LeMahieu struck out and Aaron Judge flied to right.

The Yanks then staged an improbable 2-out rally — Gleyber Torres singled and Giancarlo Stanton singled to left in a long at bat, on a 3-2 pitch — scoring a run and making it a 6-5 game.

Harrison Bader, who had struck out all 4 times previously in the game, took 2 strikes but hit an 0-2 slider to DEEP centerfield that looked like it might go for a game-winning homer — but centerfielder Alex Call made an over the shoulder catch (due to slightly misjudging the ball) on the run in the warning track for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • By going 4-5, Giancarlo Stanton raised his average to .204 (.285 OBP).
  • Gleyber Torres went 3-5 to improve his slash line to 20-52-.265 (.334 OBP).
  • Judge is now slashing 28-55-.278 (.406).

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472933

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*