Holmes Blows Save; Leiter Blows Game. Detroit 3 NY 2 in 10 innings

August 19, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Gleyber Torres with a heads-up dash home to score the 1st run of the game on a wild pitch in the 6th.

After a fun, fun day with the little leaguers at the Little League World Series in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania — Clay Holmes blew the save in the 9th, and Mark Leiter Jr.blew the game in the 10th as the Yanks went down to Detroit, 2-1.

It was Holmes’ MLB-leading 10th blown save of the season. As usual he had filthy stuff, but made mistakes — a 1-out booming double to Colt Keith, and 2-out single by Jace Jung to tie the game in the 9th.

Leiter wasn’t charged with a blown save as he had an inherited runner on 2nd base in the 10th — but he didn’t get an out. After NY took the lead 2-1 with a run in the top of the 9th on a DJ LeMahieu RBI single, Leiter allowed an immediate single to Justyn-Henry McKinstry to tie the game, and then a ripping single by Parker Meadows to left for the game, after McKinstry had stolen 2nd. Yankee phenom  leftfielder Jasson Dominguez aka The Martian, inexplicably hesitated before throwing the ball back in.

So the good-vibe day ended with a thud.

Earlier, Marcus Stroman pitched 6 shutout innings to out-duel Tarik Skubal, the Yanks getting a run when Gleyber Torres made a mad dash to the plate to score on a wild pitch. Then Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle each pitched a lights-out shutout inning — all of them showing the little leaguers how it was done.

The Williamsburg stadium, which only holds a few thousand people, was filled with the little league teams participating in the tournament.

“Clay was fine,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “I thought the double the other way was the one flat sinker he threw where it was up and out and over the plate, and he, Keith, kind of rode it the other way. Other than that I thought he was pretty sharp; I thought the sinker was good tonite; the slider was good. And then a good at bat there by Jung. But overall I thought he threw the ball fine.”

“And with Leiter, not real sharp Fell behind. Basehit up the middle — probably a fastball too much on the plate with both of them there. So we have to get him a little sharper right now.”

When asked if he was committed to using Holmes as his closer the rest of the year despite the league-leading 10 blown saves, Boone said “yea, yea. We’ll see as we go — we have a lot of really good options, but Clay has had some tough breaks that led to that — I can think of a couple where we didn’t make a play and it goes on him.

NY falls to 73-52, and are in a 1st place tie with Baltimore again. Detroit wins 2 of 3 in the 3-game series and improves to 61-64.

1. Stroman Out-Duels Skubal

The Yanks wasted a tremendous pitching performance by Marcus Stroman — his second great start in a row.

Stroman was at the top of his game all evening, with 6 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits, striking out 5 and walking 2.

Stroman had his sinker sinking, and his splitter and curve fooling batter as he painted the zone like Rembrandt. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st, then got the final out after allowing a 2-out walk in the 2nd, a 2-out single in the 3rd, and a 2-out single in the 4th.

In the 5th, he walked Jace Jung to lead off, then got 2 strikeouts — but Parker Meadows doubled to center. Aaron Judge threw in to Volpe who threw home on a perfect relay and nailed Jung at home.

Stroman got 4 outs in the 6th, striking out leftfielder Riley Greene to lead off the inning but he reached 1st on a wild pitch on the 3rd strike. Stroman then struck out centerfielder Matt Vierling and got outfielder Kerry Carpenter on a fly out for what should have been the 3rd out — but he needed 1 more and got 1st baseman Spencer Torkelson to fly out.

Stroman left after 6 innings, up 1-0 over Skubal.

2. Gleyber Mad Dash Gets Yanks 1-0 Lead

Meanwhile Skubal, who entered with the American League’s best record at 14-4 2.53, was tough too. The Yanks managed just a single off him in the 2nd (Giancarlo Stanton), 3rd (with 2 outs, by Gleyber Torres), and 4th (by Aaron Judge, erased by a Stanton double play), and a 2-out walk in the 5th (by LeMahieu).

But the Yanks got to Skubal in the 6th.

Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto led off the 6th with consecutive walks. Aaron Judge hit into a double play, which brought Giancarlo Stanton to the plate with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Skubal threw a wild pitch to Stanton and a head’s-up Gleyber dashed in from 3rd to score, giving NY a 1-0 lead.

3. Little Leaguers Take It All In

The Little Leaguers were taking it in all game — clad in their uniforms. At one point the kids from the Dominican Republic team wowed at Juan Soto’s shuffle, which was a highlight.

4. Weaver Great

Luke Weaver also showed the little leaguers how it was done — pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th — easy line out to 2nd, strike out, fly out to center. Still NY 1 Detroit 0.

5. Kahnle Great

Tommy Kahnle also showed the little leaguers how it was done — he was filthy in the 8th — ground out, strike out, ground out. Still NY 1 Detroit 0.

6. Holmes Blows the Save

And then came Clay Holmes for the Rollercoaster 9th. He struck out Kerry Carpenter to begin the inning, and worries that he’d blow another one subsided just a little bit.

But then the booming double by Colt Keith.

Holmes struck out Spencer Torkelson. Hope again that he’d get it done.

But then a single to left by Jace Jung — tie game. Holmes had blown it again.

Holmes struck out former Yank Trey Sweeney to end the inning. Again — he had great stuff pointed out some on Yankee Twitter.

7. LeMahieu Clutch Hit Puts NY Up in 10th

DJ LeMahieu got the Yanks immediately back on track by hitting the 1st pitch of the top of the 10th into right center, scoring inherited-runner Anthony Volpe — and NY was back on top 2-1.

Ben Rice came in to run for LeMahieu — but the Yanks did not have him try to steal 2nd — and Oswaldo Cabrera hit into a double play to end any further threat.

8. Leiter Blows the Game

In came Mark Leiter Jr.to try and save it in the 10th — but he allowed an immediate RBI single to right center by McKinstry and it was a tie game.

Unlike the Yanks, Detroit had McKinstry steal 2nd — and he just barely made it as Anthony Volpe made a spectacular dive-tag that just missed him by a hair (the Yankees lost the challenge).

And then Parker Meadows hit an RBI single to left — Jasson Dominguez fielding but hesitating to throw in — then making a strong throw in but McKinstry was safe at home for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570333

 

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