Marcus Stroman, Yankees offense struggle in 5-2 loss to Marlins
Marcus Stroman wasn't as sharp, and the Yankees offense could not get the big hit as New York fell to the Miami Marlins, 5-2, on Wednesday night in the Bronx.
Here are the takeaways...
-Stroman came into Wednesday’s game not allowing a run, but that quickly changed. He gave up four runs in the third inning, punctuated by a Jake Burger three-run shot, but the first-year Yankee was having trouble locating his pitches.
He walked just three batters combined in his first two starts, but on Wednesday he walked four in the first three innings.
Stroman did settle down after the third, and got through five innings (95 pitches/58 strikes) while giving up the four runs on four hits, four walks and struck out seven batters.
-The Yankees offense didn’t have many answers to LHP Ryan Weathers, son of former Yankees pitcher David Weathers. The 24-year-old pitched five scoreless innings, scattering three hits, three walks and striking out one batter. He also lowered his ERA from 4.00 to 2.57 with Wednesday's game.
The Yankees would get to the Marlins bullpen, however. Giancarlo Stanton continued his recent tear with a sixth-inning solo shot to cut the deficit to 4-1. After starting the season 3-for-24, the slugger is 8-for-19 (.421) with three home runs, and seven RBI over his last five games. He finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a homer.
With Wednesday's home run, Stanton has now homered against every MLB team.
In the eighth, Anthony Volpe, hitting leadoff for the first time this season, walked and scored from first base on a Juan Soto double to put the score at 4-2. Aaron Judge struck out, before Stanton walked putting the tying run on first. Anthony Rizzo flied out and Gleyber Torres struck out to end the threat.
Volpe finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a run. Torres was moved to the No. 6 spot as manager Aaron Boone said prior to the game that he felt his infielder was pressing as the leadoff hitter. The infielder answered by going 0-for-2 with two walks. He finished 0-for-12 with two walks and three strikeouts.
-The Marlins picked up a key insurance run in the ninth when Volpe threw a bouncer to Rizzo that the first baseman should have scooped. The error allowed not just the baserunner to be safe at first, but heads-up running by Tim Anderson allowed him to score.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jon Berti's infield single and Volpe's walk gave Soto a chance to tie the game with two outs. The lefty walked on a seven-pitch at-bat, bringing up Judge as the winning run. Judge popped out on a 1-0 count to end the game. Judge went 1-for-8 with a double and four walks.
Overall, the Yankees were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.
-Boone was ejected after barking from the dugout at home plate ump John Bacon about his strike zone. It's the skipper's first ejection of the season after he was tossed seven times a year ago.
Game MVP: Jake Burger/Tanner Scott
On his birthday, the slugging third baseman had the one hit that was a game-changer while Scott picked up his first save of the season, getting five outs and out of two situations with a lot of runners on.
Highlights
What's Next
After the Yankees' off day Thursday, they travel to Cleveland to take on the Guardians on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
Clarke Schmidt (0-0, 4.66 ERA) will take on Carlos Carrasco (0-0, 4.50 ERA).
