Disaster. Volpe & Verdugo BOTH Flub Final Out. Baltimore 6 NY 5

July 15, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

The Yanks were on the verge of a dramatic comeback win, fueled by Ben Rice‘s 3-run homer on the top of the 9th. But Anthony Volpe AND Alex Verdugo BOTH flubbed final plays that would have ended the game with a Yankee victory.

Clay Holmes put the Yanks in a precarious situation in the 9th again, but got the game ending grounder to Volpe — all he had to do was field it and flip to 2nd for the easy out. But he flubbed it, and a run scored; the inning continued.

On the next play, Holmes got Cedric Mullins to hit a liner to left — playable for a game-ending win for the Yanks — but Alex Verdugo misjudged the ball, taking a step in, then stumbled trying to recover and catch the ball — it went over his head for the game-winning, 2-RBI double.

An absolutely insane way to lose a game.

A win would have put the Yanks in 1st place by themselves heading into the All Star break. Instead Baltimore is.

“That’s a killer, right? Let’s acknowledge that,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “And it’s been a rough several weeks for us — acknowledge that. The reality is the last couple of games in Tampa into here, (we) feel like we’re competing our asses off and starting to turn the corner and see the signs we want to see to turn this thing around.”

“While also acknowledging that, the other reality is, we’re in a great spot,” added Boone. “We’re 100-ish games in and because of the first half — even through some rough, rough stretches, that we acknowledge — it’s all right there in front of us — we have the pen; we get to write this amazing script, and that’s because we’ve put ourselves in that position.”

NY falls to 58-40. Baltimore improves to 58-38.

1. Grisham Puts Yanks on Top

The game started at 11:30am on a Sunday — available to watch only on ROKU. And it started out good for Anthony Volpe, as he hit a 2-out double off Dean Kremer in the top of the 2nd, and was plated by an RBI single by Trent Grisham for a 1-0 lead.

2. Rodon Starts Better But Only Lasts 4 Innings

And Carlos Rodon was much better than he’s been at the start of his last few outings — coming out looking to mix in his off-speed pitches from the start, rather then coming out challenging with mostly fastballs.

  1. Rodon had a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st — on a HOT, Sunny, 95-degree game-time-temperature day, and hotter on the field.
  2. Rodon worked around a walk and a single in the 2nd inning.
  3. But in the 3rd, staked to the 1-0 lead, Rodon coughed up the old gopher ball again — a leadoff walk to James McCann and 2-run homer to Gunnar Henderson and Baltimore was up 2-1. He allowed a further walk in the 3rd, but struck out 3 batters.
  4. In the 4th, he allowed a 1-out bunt single to Jorge Mateo, then a walk to Colton Cowser, before getting a foul out, and strike out (of Gunnar Henderson) to end the inning.

And that was it for Rodon — as he was at 98 pitches on the Hot, Humid, Sunny day. Kremer didn’t last 5 innings either.

Rodon’s line: 4 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 7 K’s, 3 walks. Not great, but a serviceable start at least.

“A little scattered with the breaking balls,” said Rodon afterwards. “Made some pitches; obviously wanted to go deeper with the stuff I had. They had some good at bats; some long at bats. Just can be better with the breaking balls in the zone, and to limit the pitch count.”

3. Grisham HR Ties It 2-2

Trent Grisham put on the hero cape again in the top of the 5th — a 375-foot homer to right to lead off the inning, tying the game 2-2.

4. Kahnle Coughs Up HR to Santander

Tommy Kahnle relieved Rodon to start the bottom of the 5th in a 2-2 tie, and got the first 2 batters easily, Suzyn Waldman commenting on the radio that his changeup looked good.

And just after she said that Anthony Santander put a changeup 421 feet into the right field seats for a 3-2 Baltimore lead.

5. Tonkin and Weaver Great Again

Michael Tonkin came in for the 6th and was absolutely dynamite — a 1-2-3 inning, striking out 2, and then struck out the first batter of the 7th before being relieved by Luke Weaver.

Weaver was dynamite also — getting tough righty Gunnar Henderson to ground out, and striking out Adley Rutschman.

6. Cousins and Oswaldo Save Weaver in 8th

Weaver got the first out of the 8th, but then allowed a triple to Anthony Santander and the Yanks were in a spot with a runner on 3rd and only 1 out, in a 3-2 game.

NFL star Kirk Cousins’ cousin Jake Cousins came in and got Westburg to hit a hard grounder to 3rd, where Oswaldo Cabrera fielded and threw a perfect throw to Austin Wells at home to nab Santander.

Cousins then got the final out and we headed to the 9th, Yanks down 3-2.

6. Rice Heroic 3-Run HR in 9th

Craig Kimbrel was in for the save for Baltimore, and he had trouble right away, walking Trent Grisham and Oswaldo Cabrera to start the inning.

Ben Rice has been slumping as MLB pitchers have been feeding him all off-speed stuff. Kimbrel threw Rice a knuckle curve, and Suzyn Waldman commented on the radio that Rice hadn’t seen a fastball in a while.

And just like that, Kimbrel threw Rice a fastball and Rice deposited it into the seats in right center for a HUGE, CLUTCH 3-run Homer to put the Yanks ahead 5-3 !!

7. Holmes, Volpe, Verdugo Blow Save

After coughing up the Rice homer, Kimbrel rebounded to get the next 3 outs and so it was to the 9th with Clay “Cardiac” Holmes on the mound.

Holmes would later reveal that he didn’t have his best stuff: “Didn’t have my best stuff but just had to compete with what I had today. When asked what was off Holmes responded, “The sinker command — when the command is not there it puts me behind in some counts; it makes things a bit tougher. I fell behind in some counts; put myself in some situations where I had to make a good pitch.”

Holmes allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Stowers, but then got Colton Cowser to hit into a fielders’ choice groundout. With 1 out, he walked Ryan O’Hearn to put the tying run on base.

But Holmes struck out Gunnar Henderson and the Yanks were an out away from a win.

Holmes then walked Adley Rutschman on 4 pitches to load the bases. It was on purpose; “Didn’t want (the lefty) Adley to beat me with (the righty) Mountcastle on deck,” said Holmes afterwards.

But he went 0-2 on Ryan Mountcastle before getting him to hit a routine grounder to shortstop for the ballgame. All Volpe had to do was field it and flip to 2nd. Volpe fumbled it. A run scored. Bases were still loaded.

Holmes needed to ‘pick up’ his shortstop — and he kind of did — Cedric Mullins golfed a slider to the opposite field left — where Verdugo should have caught the ball for the old ballgame — but Verdugo took a step in, misjudging the ball, then stumbled as he reversed course — and the ball went over his head for 2 runs and the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569918

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