Yankees takeaways from Thursday's 8-2 loss to Rays, including flat offense and a bullpen implosion
Domingo German had another strong outing but the Yankees were blanked by the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, 8-2, on Thursday night in the Bronx.
Takeaways
- German got out of the first inning stranding two runners, and had a relatively easy time until the fifth inning when Anthony Rizzo booted a grounder to him allowing Josh Lowe to reach safely. Yandy Diaz would drive Lowe in after a two-out double to put the Rays up 1-0. Wander Franco, who had two singles heading into the fifth, grounded out to end the inning and was pulled with an apparent injury.
German did not give up another run until the sixth inning, when he walked Taylor Walls with two outs and 87 pitches, and got pulled by manager Aaron Boone. Ron Marinaccio came in and gave up a single and hit a batter to load the bases. Lowe cleared the bases with a double to put the Rays up 4-0.
German’s final line was 5.2 IP, one earned run, three hits, three walks and three strikeouts. That’s three straight good outings for German. In all three, he’s gone at least five innings and given up four earned runs total.
- In 13 appearances this season (16.1 IP) entering Thursday, Marinaccio gave up just three earned runs. He gave up two in 0.1 IP against the Rays.
Albert Abreu came on in the seventh and after getting the first two out, walked the next two batters. He then gave up a Walls double to give the Rays a 5-0 lead. Ryan Weber, just called up Thursday, gave up a single and a two-run shot to Lowe to give Tampa Bay a dominant 7-0 lead. Lowe wound up with five RBI on the day. Weber would give up a pair of doubles to allow the Rays to score their eight run of the evening.
- But the story of the game was the Yankees offense, or the lack thereof. They had a hard time figuring out Drew Rasmussen, getting just one baserunner -- a Jake Bauers single -- over the first three innings. Bauers would actually pick up a second single and account for the only hits of the day for the Bombers against the right-hander. Rasmussen went seven innings on 76 pitches, giving up just two hits and striking out seven.
Rasmussen has now pitched 21 straight scoreless innings (four appearances) against the Yankees to start his career.
- After scoring 28 runs in their three-game sweep over the Oakland A's, the Yankees could not muster many runs or baserunners. Aside from Bauers' two hits, the only other Yankee baserunner was Harrison Bader who was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning by a Rays reliever, until a ninth-inning double by Willie Calhoun.
In that ninth inning, Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu worked two-out walks to load the bases for Gleyber Torres. The second baseman scorched a single to centerfield to score two runs. This prevented the Yankees from being shut out for the second time this season. He also extended his hitting streak to seven games. Bauers would strike out to end the game with the Rays winning, 8-2.
Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Since returning from the IL, Judge is 3-for-11. Rizzo (0-for-3, BB) did not get a hit so his hitting streaks came to an end at eight games.
Highlights
What's next
The Yankees continue their four-game series with the Rays on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with Gerrit Cole going up against a yet-to-be-determined pitcher for Tampa Bay.
