1. The old baseball adage that “it’s hard to sweep a doubleheader” held true on Saturday as the Yankees lost the afternoon game to the Red Sox 6-0 before winning the night game 9-2.
The first game on Saturday was the type of game Yankees fans have seen too frequently this summer as the offense took another game off. After scoring one run in the Astros series finale and one run in the Red Sox series opener, the Yankees were shut out in the second game of the series. Here are some appalling stats from Katie Sharp:
The Yankees had two runs, 12 hits and 31 strikeouts over the last three games. It was the first time in franchise history the Yankees had any three-game span with two or fewer runs, 12 or fewer hits and 30-plus strikeouts.
It was the 23rd game this season the Yankees had four or fewer hits. The Yankees had 17 such games all of last season.
The Yankees went 4-for-31 with no walks and nine strikeouts in the game. The only Yankees to have hits were Heliot Ramos (double), Cody Bellinger (single), Jose Caballero (single) and Spencer Jones (single).
2. You can’t win if you don’t score, so the Yankees weren’t going to win the game no matter what, but it’s not like the pitching was any good. Carlos Rodon lasted just 4 2/3 innings due to a pitch count and ineffectiveness and Ryan Yarbrough got rocked in relief. Rodon allowed a first-inning home run to a left-handed batter and had a mental meltdown in the fifth.
An Amed Rosario throwing error in the fifth on a double play attempt led to a runner on second with two outs. Rodon then allowed an infield single putting runners on the corners with two outs. A passed ball by Ali Sanchez led to a close play at the plate in which Rodon didn’t get the tag in time. The runner was called safe and while Rodon argued the call, the other runner moved up before being sent back on a phantom “time” call. Clearly rattled and unable to control his emotions (normal Rodon stuff), Rodon then walked the No. 9 hitter and hit the leadoff hitter and was pulled from the game.
3. Moments before Rosario’s throwing error in the fifth, he blew the chance to tie the game with some of the worst baserunning you’ll ever see. Rosario’s indecision between second and third base on a ball Ceddanne Rafaela misplayed into a double led to him being thrown out at home and prevented the game from being tied. Rosario likely would have been designated for assignment when Bellinger returned if not for the injury to Ryan McMahon, and each time he plays (which isn’t often), he continues to make it hard to justify keeping him if a roster spot is needed at some point.
4. George Lombard Jr. hurt his knee on a swing in the second game, stayed in to record a single in that at-bat, played defense and took another at-bat before eventually being removed. The fact that the Yankees let the future of their franchise continue to play for as long as they did in a game they eventually took him out of is nothing new for the Yankees. But if Lombard Jr. is in fact injured and is forced to miss time and Anthony Volpe returns, that will be it for me. I will walk away. It’s hard enough to watch an Aaron Boone-led, Aaron Judge-less team. The absence of Lombard Jr. and return of Volpe would be the final straw.
5. Max Fried returned from the injured list for the second game and looked like himself. He held the Red Sox to one run (a solo home run) over 3 2/3 innings, but like Rodon, was limited by a pitch count.
The Yankees trailed 1-0 in the third inning and after leaving runners on first and third with one out in the second, it started to feel like another game in which the offense wouldn’t do anything. Then the Yankees built three runs by not doing much.
Caballero led off the third with a single and Trent Grisham walked. Ben Rice singled in Caballero and Grisham moved to third. Ramos was hit by a pitch, Luis Garcia drove in a run with a groundout, Jazz Chisholm drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and the Yankees had a 3-1 lead.
6. Boone asked Yerry De Los Santos to get the last out of the fourth in relief of Fried, which he did. De Los Santos returned to the mound for the fifth and got the first two batters before allowing a two-out single. That led to Boone bringing in Michael Fulmer and Fulmer got out of the inning with one pitch.
In the sixth, the Yankees still led 3-1 with the Red Sox’ 3-4-5 hitters due up. It’s a spot that had Paul Blackburn’s name all over it. But instead of going to Blackburn, Boone sent Fulmer back out. Fulmer hit the first batter and walked the second batter. With the tying run now on base with no outs, Boone brought in Blackburn. After losing the first game of the day, the Yankees’ wild-card lead over the Red Sox was back to two games. The night game had become the latest most important game of the season, and yet, Boone was willing to steal outs in a two-run game with the heart of the Red Sox’ order up with a pitcher the Yankees signed out of necessity only a few days earlier. Thankfully, Blackburn saved his manager from his latest in-game managerial disaster, saved the inning and saved the game by retiring three straight hitters.
7. The Yankees added a run in the sixth to make it a 4-1 game, and when the Red Sox got that run back in the eighth to make it 4-2, the Yankees exploded for a five-run eighth to make it 9-2, put the game out of reach and avoided using David Bednar. Not using Bednar was extremely important because Brent Headrick pitched on Friday and Saturday (and was ineffective both times) and Blackburn pitched on Friday and Saturday as well, making both unavailable for Sunday. If Bednar had pitched on Saturday, he too would be unavailable for Sunday, but now he will be available.
The bullpen is a mess for Sunday. Based on the Yankees’ internal rule that no reliever is allowed to pitch three straight days, Headrick and Blackburn are both unavailable. De Los Santos pitched in both games on Saturday, so he’s unavailable. Yarbrough threw three innings on Saturday, so he’s unavailable. That means the Yankees’ available relievers are Fulmer, Justin Topa, Tim Hill and Bednar. How the Yankees plan on winning a game with their offense, Will Warren starting and only Bednar available among their elite relievers is beyond me.
8. The Yankees have a chance to go up four games on the Red Sox with 26 games to play and clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker with a win on Sunday. In order to do so, the offense will need to put up runs against Ranger Suarez and Warren will need to not suck. Because Warren does suck and got lit up by the Red Sox in his only start against them in June (5.2 IP, 5 ER, 0 K), the offense is going to have to do more than hit a couple of solo home runs. I think the best possible plan would be for Warren to give the Yankees a quality start (6 IP, 3 ER) and then try to piece together nine outs from Fulmer, Hill and Bednar. The problem with that is Warren has only one quality start since May 31. And then the other problem is asking Fulmer and Hill to serve as a bridge from Warren to Bednar.
9. Because the Rays are back to not losing (5-1 in their last six), the Yankees are now five games back in the loss column in the division. The math keeps getting worse and games keep coming off the schedule. The Rays have 27 games left. If they play under .500 and go 13-14, they will win 94 games and the Yankees would have to go 18-8 to pass them. We have reached the point where sweeping the Rays in the four-game series in the Bronx at the end of September and outplaying them by one game in all other games is the Yankees’ only path to winning the division.
10. That makes Sunday’s series and season finale against the Red Sox all the more important. The Yankees wanted to win at least two games this weekend and they have achieved that goal. If the Yankees lose on Sunday, four games will have come off the schedule and the Red Sox will be no closer than they were before the series started with no remaining head-to-head games to erase the deficit on their own. But a loss on Sunday keeps the Red Sox within two games of the Yankees and gives the Red Sox the head-to-head tiebreaker for home-field advantage in the Wild Card Series if the two teams finish with the same record. It’s unfortunate Warren is starting the newest biggest game of the season with such enormous implications. The idea that the Yankees will split a four-game home series against the Red Sox in which they didn’t have to face either Payton Tolle or Sonny Gray is unnerving. Maybe Warren will go out and pitch the game of his life and hand the ball right to Bednar or maybe the offense will explode for five or six early runs off Suarez and all this worrying will be for nothing. If neither of those things happens, it will have been a disappointing weekend that could set up a disappointing October.
Last modified: Aug 30, 2026
