Yanks Gift Away a Twilight Zone Game. Atlanta 7 NY 3

July 19, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Giancarlo Stanton rocks 2-RBI double in 7th.

This was the Twilight Zone episode where the Yankees began the 2nd half of the season, after the long, 4-day All Star game break — without any starting pitchers so opened with Ian Hamilton and then brought in Rico Garcia.

The result was a 6-0 deficit by the 3rd inning, and 7-0 after Scott Effross got knocked around in the 4th.

NY tried to dig out a bit with 3 runs in the 7th but fell 7-3, on a Friday night in Atlanta.

With Max Fried nursing a blister on his index finger, Carlos Rodon having just pitched in the All Star game, and Clarke Schmidt gone for the year — fans across Yankee Universe still felt like they were traveling in another dimension — bewildered that the Yanks couldn’t come up with a starter after the long break, like Will Warren, Marcus Stroman or for that matter Cam Schlittler who looked so good last week.

“Not the best of command there, going through the meat of the order,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Hamilton. “Stuff was fine just not enough quality strikes against a couple of good hitters.”

Nobody asked Boone about Rico Garcia in the post game, apparently knowing the questions answered themselves.

NY drops to 53-44, and are now 3 back of Toronto; they remain 1 ahead of Boston who is in 3rd. Atlanta improves to 43-53.

1. Hamilton Bombs in Opening

Yankee fans confused as to why NY couldn’t come up with a starter after the 4-day All Star break watched the game get gifted away in the bottom of the 1st as Ian Hamilton took the mound and:

2. Garcia Traveling in Another Dimension

But the show was about to get even weirder when Rico Garcia took the mound in the bottom of the 2nd.

Who?

Rico Garcia.

A quick scramble onto Twitter found the Mets had just released him and the Yanks picked him up on waivers just before the All Star break.

99.9 percent of the Yankee audience had NO IDEA he was on the team, or who he was.

Garcia got 2 quick outs — then threw 11 straight balls to walk 2 guys, then got a final out of the 2nd. A wondrous inning whose boundaries were that of imagination.

But there was a sign post up ahead: 3rd inning.

Blake Baldwin led off with a single to right, Sean Murphy doubled to left, and Ozzie Albies hit a 3-run HR to right and it was Atlanta 6 NY 0.

Garcia got the next 3 outs, and got the first 2 outs of the 4th before yielding to Scott Effross, who immediately coughed up a triple to Ron Acuna Jr and an infield single to Blake Baldwin for a 7-0 Atlanta lead.

3. Strider Shuts Down Yanks thru 6

Meanwhile Spencer Strider started for Atlanta and he shut the Yanks out through 6 innings of 3-hit ball, striking out 8 and walking 3.

“He got us to swing and miss some,” said Boone afterwards. “Obviously he has good stuff. I actually thought as the game unfolded we had a number of quality at bats. Grish (Trent Grisham) had a lot of good at bats; Belli (Cody Bellinger) just misses a ball; Jazz (Jazz Chisholm Jr.) just missed a couple.”

“So there were intermittent some quality at bats,” continued Boone. “But he also had the swing and miss going, and we’re kind of chasing and in a little bit of a hole — and ultimately couldn’t get that big one to get us back into it.”

4. Vivas Thrown Out by Sight & Sound & Mind

The Yanks blew a rally against Strider in the top of the 3rd. Down 3-0, Jorbit Vivas worked a 1-out walk, Trent Grisham walked, and Cody Bellinger hit a shot to deep right — that Ron Acuna Jr. got under, caught, then spun around and threw a STRIKE on the fly to 3rd and NABBED Vivas who had tagged up at 2nd and was running casually to 3rd.

Yankee 3rd base coach Luis Rojas implored Vivas to slide but Vivas didn’t — he was fooled by Atlanta 3rd baseman Nacho Alvarez Jr. who pretended the ball wasn’t coming in — and then caught the ball and tagged Vivas.

It would have been 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and Aaron Judge up. Instead the inning was over.

“Got beat,” said Boone afterwards about Vivas. “Can’t happen. Just can’t happen. That said I did that all my career at 3rd base where you play dumb; dead. He read the body. Obviously he knew it was a deep fly ball so I think it caught him up. The body language of Alvarez deked him. That’s not something that can happen. Jorbit is a guy who plays his tail off; he’s a hard nosed player and he got caught up there.”

5. Brubaker Pitches 3 Shutout Innings

Some good news for NY: JT Brubaker pitched 3 shutout, no-hit innings — the 6th through the 8th — striking out 4 and walking 1.

He kept Atlanta from running away with it, and kept the Yankees with a faint hope of getting back in it. Which they almost did in the 7th.

6. NY Rallies in 7th

Strider left after 6 shutout innings, leading 7-0. He was relieved by 6’3 lefty Aaron Bummer, and the Yankees pounced.

Ben Rice ripped a 1-out double to right, and with 2 outs, Austin Wells singled to center. Giancarlo Stanton then came up as a pinch hitter and ripped a 2-out double to left for a 7-2 game.

6’3 lefty Dylan Lee relieved Strider and walked Trent Grisham. Cody Bellinger singled to center to make it a 7-3 game.

With runners on 1st and 3rd and 2 outs, Lee struck out Aaron Judge with a 3-2 curveball. And that was pretty much the game right there.

7. Atlanta Closers Close Out Yanks

6’2 righty Pierce Johnson pitched the 8th for Atlanta. Ben Rice got a 2-out double, but Anthony Volpe struck out on a 3-2 curveball to end the inning and everyone on Twitter booed and threw garbage at him. Volpe went 0-3 in the game with a walk, and is batting .212.

Raisel Iglesias pitched the 9th for Atlanta, and got foul out, strike out, and fly out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401696364

 

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