1. Last July, in the middle of their annual midseason free fall, the Yankees were swept at home in a three-game series by the Reds. It was the first time the Yankees were swept at home by a National League team in a series of at least three games in the history of interleague play. (Another nice highlight for Aaron Boone’s managerial résumé.) On Thursday, the Yankees were faced with the possibility of being swept at home by an NL team for the second time in as many seasons after having never been from 1997 through 2023.
“We don’t get swept at home,” Giancarlo Stanton reportedly told the Yankees clubhouse before Thursday’s series (and season) finale against the Diamondbacks (apparently forgetting about last season’s Reds series). And they didn’t. But their manager, his bullpen management and the back end of their bullpen tried their hardest to.
2. The Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the first inning before making an out, thanks to an Aaron Judge three-run home run. The lead was extended to 4-0 in the opening inning after a Jasson Dominguez single and Trent Grisham double.
Carlos Carrasco gave a run back in the second, but the Yankees got that run back and more when Grisham hit a two-run home run to give them a 6-1 lead through three. Carrasco allowed two in the top half of the fourth, but again the Yankees responded in the bottom half of the inning with a Judge RBI single and a Jazz Chisholm two-run home run to make it 9-3. A six-run lead through four with a well-rested bullpen? Not even Boone could screw this up, but he would try.
3. Carrasco was pulled with one out in the sixth and Adam Ottavino got the last two outs of the inning to preserve the 9-3 lead. In the seventh, the game began to unravel.
Ryan Yarbrough relieved Ottavino for the seventh. He began his night by walking the Diamondbacks’ 8 and 9 hitters. Corbin Carroll followed with a base hit to load the bases with no outs. Yarbrough had thrown 15 pitches and only six for strikes. He had loaded the bases with no outs for the heart of the Diamondbacks’ order. He had faced the minimum three batters and could be removed from the game. Boone decided to stick with the pitcher the Yankees signed three days before Opening Day after he opted out of his minor-league deal with the Blue Jays believing Yarbrough was about to find “it” and turn his night around. Yarbrough allowed a grand slam to the next batter, Geraldo Perdomo.
4. The Yankees’ 9-3 lead was now 9-7 with still no one out in the seventh. Boone decided not retiring any of the four batters Yarbrough faced while allowing four runs wasn’t as bad as it was, so he stayed with him until he recorded a couple of outs. Then Boone called on Mark Leiter Jr. to get the last out of the inning.
The Yankees’ six-run lead had been cut to two, but with a more-than-rested Luke Weaver available, certainly Boone would go to his best (available) reliever (with Devin Williams still on paternity leave) for two innings. Six outs from Weaver would be more than doable since Boone passed on using him in a similar situation on Tuesday and because Weaver hadn’t been used in a week since Opening Day last Thursday.
5. When the eighth began, Leiter Jr. was still on the mound and Weaver was still in the bullpen. Was Weaver hurt and the Yankees weren’t announcing it? Was Boone trying to save him for only the ninth like he regrettably had two nights prior? What the fuck was going on?
After Leiter Jr. allowed a two-out base hit to bring the tying run to the plate, Boone called for Weaver. So Boone was willing to go to Weaver for four outs, but not before Leiter Jr. brought the tying run to the plate. If Boone was willing to go to Weaver for four outs (which he did), why didn’t he come into the game after Leiter Jr. got the second out of the inning? Stealing outs, that’s why. In Year 8 of Boone as manager, he’s still managing like he’s making his managerial debut in Toronto eight years ago.
6. Unsurprisingly, Weaver retired pinch-hitter Gabriel Moreno to end the eighth and then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to prevent the Yankees from being swept by the Diamondbacks and from falling to .500. (If only Boone had used Weaver two nights early in a situation that called for Weaver rather than a set inning, the Yankees may be 5-1 right now instead of 4-2.)
7. “We never exhale,” Judge said. “We’ve seen that too many times in this game, where you score early and a team answers right back. That’s been our thing at the beginning of this year: Don’t let off the gas.” Keep scoring until you get that final out.”
Judge knows the team can’t exhale with Boone’s bullpen management. No lead is safe with Boone pushing the buttons. This new mantra from the Yankees must be from what unfolded after they took a 5-0 lead in Game 5 of the World Series.
For any Yankees fan who want to blame Yarbrough for the grand slam rather than Boone for sticking with him after he loaded the bases, you’re a fool. This wasn’t Boone sticking with an elite relief option. This was Boone sticking with a reliever who couldn’t get a major-league offer in the offseason and then became a Yankee at the end of spring training because of the litany of injuries to the pitching staff.
8. To Boone’s credit, he did put together a lineup that generated nine runs, even if four of those runs were driven in by Judge and penciling Judge into the lineup is as automatic as Boone stealing outs late in a close game. But Boone did slot Ben Rice in the leadoff spot and he doubled, walked twice and scored two runs, and he played Grisham and he went 3-for-4 with a double, home run and three RBIs.
9. A year ago to the day (April 3), Merrill Kelly pitched well against the Yankees in Arizona (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR), but in this one he was atrocious: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 3 HR. Carrasco was “fine” for Carrasco (5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) and pitched about as well as any Yankees fan could ask for at this stage of his career. If he can hold the damage to three runs in five-plus innings per start for as long as he’s here, the team will be OK in games he starts. The next time he will get the ball is on Tuesday in Detroit.
Before then, the Yankees will play three against the Pirates in Pittsburgh as part of their first road trip of the season. Thankfully, they’ll miss Paul Skenes in the series (though they will see Tarik Skubal next week).
10. The Pirates are horrible. They are off to a 2-5 start with a negative-12 run differential and it’s highly likely they never see .500 again this season. Anthony Volpe has as many home runs (4) as the entire Pirates roster and the Yankees scored more runs in eight innings last Saturday (20) than the Pirates have scored in seven games (18). This is the type of team contenders beat up on, which the Yankees believe they are. Actually, this is the type of team every team beats up on, as the also-lowly Marlins took three of four from them to begin the season. Anything less than a series win (especially with Skenes not pitching), would be a disappointment.
Last modified: Apr 4, 2025
