1. Against the reigning American League Cy Young winner, the Yankees opened Tuesday’s game with back-to-back singles. Tarik Skubal had struggled in his first two starts of the season, and it looked like the Yankees may be able to get to him early with the heart of the order due up and a chance to give Carlos Carrasco a lead before throwing a pitch.
Instead, Aaron Judge struck out after getting ahead in the count 2-0, Jazz Chisholm hit a weak ground ball back to the mound and Anthony Volpe had an ugly at-bat for an inning-ending strikeout, and that was the game. After that first-inning jam, Skubal looked like his 2024 self, retiring 16 straight until a Paul Goldschmidt single in the sixth.
2. “He’s as good as it gets,” Aaron Bone said. “He had a good day against us today.”
A good day from Skubal is to be expected. But Casey Mize also had a good day against the Yankees the day before and Andrew Heaney had a good day against them the day before that. Add up three consecutive days of a disappearing offense and bad starting pitching and you get a three-game losing streak, which has the Yankees a loss away from falling to .500.
3. During the six shutouts innings from Skubal, Carrasco got lit up. The Tigers scored one run off of him in the second and hit three solo home runs in the span of four batters in the fourth. He lasted just 4 1/3 innings and the Yankees trailed 4-0 when he left the mound in the fifth.
“It’s imperative that he really commands all of it,” Boone said of Carrasco. “He’s gotta be near the edges.”
Ryan Yarbrough relieved Carrasco and gave up a home run to the first batter he faced to make it 5-0, and that’s how it would stay for another Yankees loss.
4. The Tigers are a problem and a horrible matchup for the Yankees. It’s why before the series, I wrote: Had the Yankees played the Tigers in the ALCS, I think it would have been problematic given their pitching staff.
Between their strong rotation, deep pitching staff and experienced manager, they are very Rays-esque. The Rays have dominated the Yankees during the Boone era and the Tigers are starting do the same, having won the last four games against the Yankees dating back to last season. I fear them as much as any team in the AL, and in a short series in October, they would be a big problem.
4. Clarke Schmidt is expected to return to the rotation next week, and there is a debate about whether it will be Carrasco or Will Warren who loses their spot. The argument for Carrasco is that he doesn’t have a minor-league option like Warren does. Umm, who cares? It’s highly unlikely Carrasco will be claimed by another team, and if he is, who cares? Does anyone want him making another start for the Yankees? In three appearances (two starts) this season, he has put 19 baserunners on in 11 2/3 innings and has allowed 10 earned runs. No, don’t let the the guy with a 7.71 ERA and 1.628 WHIP this season (and 5.39 ERA since 2021) get claimed or elect free agency!
5. The Yankees’ 1-through-3 were 6-for-12 in the game. The 4-through-9 were 0-for-20.
Clean-up hitter Chisholm’s big weekend against the Brewers is starting to fade and he’s now down to .196/.260/.500. Austin Wells’ stats are no longer being propped up by homering in the first two games of the year as he’s down to .189/.279/.432. Jasson Dominguez has yet to get going aside from a few plate appearances and sits at .222/.317/.389, though if Volpe had Dominguez’s current .706 OPS during either of the last two seasons there would already be a plaque for him in Monument Park.
7. Cody Bellinger missed another game, this time with food poisoning. Bellinger has missed three of 11 games this year and when he has played he has been bad (.233/.278/.333). He is no way deserves to be hitting second or third before or after Judge in the lineup with the way Ben Rice and Trent Grisham have been hitting, but I expect to see him back in the lineup on Wednesday hitting second or third.
8. The Yankees have a problem right now in that Bellinger is always going to play, Dominguez needs to play, Grisham is tearing the cover off of the ball and Rice is the team’s second-best hitter after Judge. You can’t sit Rice right now. You shouldn’t sit Grisham. But because none of those four play third base, someone has to sit. It may be time for Rice to start taking ground balls at third? Maybe he already is or already has? Maybe he has and he sucked at it? All I know is the Yankees are wasting a lineup spot with whichever third baseman of the day they choose and are putting someone on the bench that shouldn’t be on the bench at the moment..
9. The Yankees will face Jack Flaherty in the series finale. The last time the Yankees saw Flaherty, they chased him in the second inning of Game 5 of the World Series. Flaherty has been very good in his first two starts of the season, and given the way the Yankees offense has hit the last three days, it’s hard to feel confident with them at the moment. It’s also hard not to think they will be thinking about an afternoon getaway day game and returning home tonight with tomorrow off.
10. The series finale is the kind of start the Yankees got Max Fried for. Three straight losses and a matchup against an unimpressive offense. This is a game the Yankees need to Fried to go out there and hand the ball off to Luke Weaver and then Devin Williams with no one in between and salvage the final game of the series and road trip.
Last modified: Apr 9, 2025
