Homer Derby. St Louis 13 NY 7

August 4, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Luis Garcia Jr. hits first HR as a Yankee -- a dramatic 2-run shot in the 7th that put NY up 7-6 after having trailed 6-0.

The ball is lively.

It MOVES when thrown.

Hit it and it’s gone.

Lotsa strikeouts; Lotsa HR’s.

Low batting averages.

MLB has become like playing stickball with a brand new Spaulding.

On a night when Cam Schlittler allowed 4 runs on 5 walks and a HR in only 3 innings to put the Yanks down 4-0 to the Cardinals, and Tim Hill allowed a HR to make it 6-0 St Louis — NY came back with 5 HR’s — 3 in the 7th inning — to take a 7-6 lead — only to watch the Cardinals hit 3 HR’s off Angel Chivilli in the 8th to win going away 13-7. On a gorgeous, breezy, summer Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

One of the HR’s was by Austin Wells — who the Yankees kept as their catcher after failing to acquire Adley Rutschman, who Baltimore instead traded to Boston just before the 6pm trade deadline earlier in the day.

One of the HR’s was by Luis Garcia Jr. — in his first game as a Yankee after being acquired the day before — a dramatic 2-run shot that put NY up 7-6 in the 7th.

Alec Burleson, the Cardinals’ 27-year-old lefty 1st baseman, went 3 for 5 with 3 HR’s and 6 RBI.

Afterwards nobody said anything about the lively baseball, because noone ever does.

Cam Schlittler was particularly off his game — walking 5 guys besides allowing 4 hits and the HR.

“He just never got into a good rhythm,” said manager Aaron Boone about Cam Schlittler‘s bad outing. “A lot of — for him — kind of non-competitive pitches where — some easy takes for them to where there were a lot of really long at bats, and they were able to foul some pitches off to extend those at bats. Just never was getting his stuff to the places consistently that he wanted to and that he normally does.”

NY falls to 63-40, 3.5 behind Tampa and 2 ahead of the surging Red Sox. St. Louis improves to 56-57, in 4th in the NL Central, 13.5 behind Milwaukee and 4 behind the wild card spot.

1. Schlittler Off His Game

The game had just begun when Cam Schlittler walked JJ Wetherholt and a batter later, lefty swinging Alec Burleson hit a 350-foot HR to right for a 2-0 Cardinals lead.

Schlittler walked the next batter and allowed a single before getting a double play to end the inning.

Schlittler then walked the leadoff batter of the 2nd, and next batter Jose Fermin doubled home a run to make it 3-0 St Louis. Cam walked another batter in the inning but struck out 3.

Cam walked the leadoff batter in the 3rd, then struck out 2 batters, but allowed a 2-out single to centerfielder Nathan Church to make it 4-0 St Louis.

2. Hill Allows HR to Make It 6-0 St Louis

And that was it for Cam — Boone pulled him after 3 innings and 83 pitches and brought in Tim Hill, who got the first 2 outs of the 4th, but then allowed a single to 6’6 Jordan Walker, and a 2-run HR to lefty swinging Alec Burleson to make it 6-0 St Louis.

Alec Burleson went 3 for 5 with 3 HR’s and 6 RBI — the 27-year-old #3 hitter in the Cardinals’ lineup is now slashing 18-77- .288 (.350 OBP).

3. Wells & Grisham HR’s Begin Yank Comeback in 5th

Meanwhile the Yanks were being shut down by 26-year-old, 6’4 righty Michael McGreevy, who came in with a 4-9 3.57 record. He retired the first 7 Yanks in a row before allowing a 1-out walk to Jose Caballero and single to Austin Wells in the 3rd.

But McGreevy struck out Trent Grisham en route to getting out of that inning and got 3 straight outs after allowing a leadoff single by Luis Garcia Jr. in the 4th.

So it was 6-0 St Louis in the bottom of the 5th — a LONG night at Yankee Stadium — when Ryan McMahon led off the 5th with a single. A batter later, Austin Wells got his 2nd hit of the night — a 394-foot HR to right center for a 6-2 game.

The Cardinals relieved McGreevy with 29-year-old 6’2 lefty Justin Bruihl to face lefty Trent Grisham — and Grisham hit a 355-foot HR to right for a 6-3 game.

4. McMahon, Cabby, & Garcia HR’s Vault Yanks to 7-6 Lead in 7th

Bruihl pitched a shutout 6th — allowing a 1-out single to Jasson Dominguez who was then caught trying to steal 2nd.

St Louis brought in 35-year-old, 6’4 righty Ryne Stanek to pitch the 7th, and first batter Ryan McMahon hit a 410-foot bomb to center for a 6-4 game.

Next batter Jose Caballero hit a 400-foot Bomb to left for a 6-5 game.

Stanek struck out Austin Wells but Trent Grisham ripped a double to center and the Cardinals brought in George Soriano, a 27-year old 6’2 righty to face lefties Ben Rice, Luis Garcia Jr., and Spencer Jones.

Soriano got Rice to fly to center, but new Yankee Luis Garcia Jr. golfed a 424-foot HR to right center for 2 runs and a 7-6 Yankee lead. Ecstasy in the Bronx.

5. Chivilli Allows 3 HR’s in 8th

Euphoria in the Bronx. All the haters who hated on the Yankee performance at the trade deadline were temporarily swayed.

But Ryan Yarbrough allowed a leadoff triple to righty Jordan Walker — the Cardinals’ 24-yr-old 6’6 star and #2 hitter who is sporting a 22-81-.285 slash line.

In came Angel Chivilli — who has been pitching well.

Not this time.

Chivilli walked a batter to put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out, NY clinging to a 7-6 lead — and then allowed a 3-run HR to right by lefty swinging centerfielder Nathan Church (slashing 9-35-.232). St Louis 9 NY 7.

It didn’t stop there.

Chivilli allowed a single to righty swinging 3rd baseman Jose Fermin (slashing 5-24-.245) and a 2-run HR to righty swinging catcher Jimmy Crooks (slashing 4-11-.174).

And it didn’t stop there.

Chivilli allowed a single to JJ Wetherholt, got Jordan Walker on a fly out for the 1st out of the inning, then allowed a 2-run bomb to Alec Burleson to make it 13-7 St Louis.

Chivilli got the last 2 outs of the 8th, and Fernando Cruz came in to pitch a 1-2-3 shutout 9th. Which left Yankee fans wondering why Chivilli was allowed to stay in so long with some HATING on Boone.

Gordon Graceffo — a 26-year-old 6’4 righty from Wayne, NJ — shut the Yanks down with a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th and 9th for the old ballgame.

Etcetera: Lombard Called Up; Volpe, The Martian & Chivilli Sent Down

Just before the game, the Yankees acquired outfielder Heliot Ramos from the San Francisco Giants for Henry Lalane (left-handed pitcher and #7 prospect in the organization and Kaeden Kent (shortstop prospect). Ramos, 26, is a right-handed bat with a 9-34-.264 (.304 OBP, .728 OPS) line in 74 games, excelling against left-handed pitching (.292 batting average, .304 OBP, and.835 OPS).

The Yanks had acquired Luis Garcia Jr. the day before for 4 right-handed pitchers: Jake Bird, Yovanny Cruz, Jack Cebert, and Ben Grable. Cebert was considered the centerpiece of the trade.

“We’ve got some of the best slug on both of these guys against opposite hands in the game, in addition to our offensive lineup,” said Brian Cashman after the trades and just before the game.

Yankee fans on twitter/X were apoplectic that NY only acquired the 2 players.

Sadly, after the game Jasson Dominguez, Anthony Volpe, and Angel Chivilli were all sent down to AAA. Top prospect George Lombard Jr. was called up. Jack Curry on YES Network said Lombard will become the Yankees’ starting shortstop.

After the game, manager Aaron Boone said Volpe will get time at shortstop and second base in the minors. NY may still be angling to give the still-only 25-year-old Volpe a shot at 2nd base with Jazz Chisholm Jr. becoming a free agent after this season. Volpe was slashing 1-19.240 (.325 OBP), which is not bad in today’s game of historically-low batting averages.

The Martian is only 23 years old — so should be back. He was slashing 6-14-.230 (.270 OBP) this year — a drop off from last year’s 10-47-,257 (,331 OBP) — although he has been yanked around all season by NY between AAA and the Majors after a red-hot Spring Training.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401816377

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