Yankees lose series to Reds as Cincy’s pitching overwhelms Yankee bats

Like many American workers on the eve of a holiday, it seemed as though the Yankees’ offense had decided to mentally shut down a day early after six innings. But after losing early, a big double by Anthony Volpe in the seventh inning brought life back into the game. But two costly double plays – including one by the shortstop in the ninth – ruined two potentially important innings down the stretch, and the Yankees lost 3-2 to the Reds.

The Yankees are 4-12 with a -34 run differential since mid-June. After losing the first two of those three games against Cincinnati, Aaron Boone’s ballclub has now lost five of its last six series and has only one tie for the remaining one. The shame is that Carlos Rodón’s performance was really good overall, despite allowing two home runs. He had a much healthier mix of pitches, hitting 14 swings-and-misses over the course of the game. A few errant pitches proved costly, however.

After allowing three or more runs in the first inning in his last three starts, Wednesday night’s first inning offered cause for optimism as Rodón was able to overcome that first-inning hurdle, doing a much better job of locking down the corners of the plate, striking out the first two batters and inducing a sluggish flyout.

Hopes of a big comeback performance from Rodón were dashed in the second inning. After allowing a single to Tyler Stephenson, Rodón served up this 93-mph four-seamer that passed inside for Noelvi Marte to crush:

Before the home run, Marte was struggling to get going after a PED suspension and had hit just 3 of 20 pitches in five games. Once again, the Yankees were trailing. Then, in the fifth inning, Rodón missed a breaking ball that was out of play and Stuart Fairchild managed to hit the ball with a solo jack to extend the lead to 3-0.

Boone came to the mound after 5.1 innings to replace a visibly dissatisfied Rodón. Aside from the two missed pitches, the left-hander had a good performance on Wednesday, recording eight strikeouts and 14 whiffs. More importantly, Rodón’s pitch mix was much more dynamic than in recent games, as he threw his slider 37 percent of the time; his season average for that pitch was 25.8 percent, and he tried his changeup almost as often as his four-seamer. He finished the night allowing just three hard-hit balls, but two of them were home runs.

Rodón threw his four-seamer less, but got more out of it. He was generally better at keeping the ball on the outside edge of the plate.

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The Yankees’ offense was weak in the first few innings. In the third inning, Reds starter Andrew Abbott ran into the biggest trouble of his otherwise good performance when he walked All-Star starters Aaron Judge and Juan Soto with two outs. After both advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, JD Davis hit a grounder that would have brought Soto home with a weaker shortstop, but a strong throw from Elly De La Cruz prevented the run.

Abbott completed his 6.1 innings with ease. Although he only struck out two batters, he repeatedly managed to induce flyouts by getting the batters to get under the ball.

The Yankees finally got some runs when Abbott was taken out of the game in the seventh inning after a sharp double by Jahmai Jones. After shutting out the Yankees on Tuesday night, it wasn’t so easy for Reds relief pitcher Fernando Cruz this time. He walked pinch-hitter Austin Wells and followed that with a much-needed double by Volpe to left-center field.

The shortstop had been in a weak phase of 8 out of 52 (.154) before the two-bagger.

Cruz threw a wild pitch and then walked Soto. What could have been a game-winning inning suddenly ended with a double play ball from Judge. It was a 105 mph grounder that went straight to third baseman Marte.

After Rodón, the Yankees’ two more reliable bullpen pitchers, Michael Tonkin and Tommy Kahnle, kept the score at 3-2. Tonkin pitched 1.2 innings, allowing one walk and no hits, and Kahnle had a clean eighth inning.

Another Yankees scoring opportunity was lost in the eighth inning. Ben Rice, filling in for Davis as a pinch hitter, worked a walk and Gleyber Torres hit a ground ball into the air. Alex Verdugo fouled out, but DJ LeMahieu provided some hope with a clean single to right. The stage was set for a big moment for pinch hitter Trent Grisham with two outs and a run behind. But former Yankee Justin Wilson came in and struck him out with three fastballs in the zone.

In the final inning, Clay Holmes took care of the job and struck out the team. Against Reds closer Alexis Díaz, Wells fought back from a 2-0 deficit and earned a well-earned walk by fighting off four foul balls in a 10-pitch at-bat. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, as Volpe regrettably showed that the seventh-inning double hadn’t completely rescued him from his slump. Díaz followed up an offering high and inside with a low slider that Volpe followed up for a devastating double-killing.

Díaz had Soto close the door with a pop fly, and that was all she wrote.

The Yankees will try to avoid a humiliating home loss to the Reds tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET. The July 4 game will pit Marcus Stroman (3.29 ERA) against former Yankee Frankie Montas (4.23 ERA). Montas is one of the Yankees’ recent deadline disappointments, though he has stayed healthy in Cincinnati and has a league-average 100 ERA+, so the offense better wake up sooner than it has in recent games.

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