Yanks flummoxed, Germán outdueled by Rasmussen
NEW YORK — It was about 4 hours earlier than recreation time on Thursday because the Yankees’ hitters marched, one after the other, from the freshly-constructed “war room” poured into the far wall of the house clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. The group appeared to show some strut of their steps, residuals from three days spent beating up on the lowly Athletics pitching workers.
By the underside of a silent first inning, these males acknowledged that they’d returned to American League East competitors. Having scored seven or extra runs by their final 4 video games, the Yanks had been silenced till the ninth inning, stung by an 8-2 loss to the Rays that can ship them again to the drafting board.
“For us, it’s just about, you’ve got to have conviction,” Aaron Judge stated. “You’ve got to stick with your approach, stick with your plan for the whole at-bat. When you’ve got nine guys in the lineup doing that, it makes for a tough outing. When we’re constantly switching our approach, guy to guy, at-bat to at-bat — it’s going to make it tough.”
The lopsided loss dipped the Yankees 9 video games behind division-leading Tampa Bay, coming after the rivals performed a three-game set at Tropicana Field this previous weekend that noticed every contest determined by one run.
New York is 11-4 in opposition to groups under .500 this season (like Oakland), however solely 10-14 in opposition to golf equipment with data of .500 or higher (just like the Rays).
“Of course, we want to win all the time, but I don’t know any teams that went 162-0,” catcher Jose Trevino stated. “We’ve just got to roll with them.”
Though Domingo Germán pitched gamely into the sixth inning, the Yanks had no answer for Drew Rasmussen. Crediting his means to regulate counts, the right-hander restricted New York to a pair of Jake Bauers singles over seven environment friendly innings, placing out seven with out permitting a stroll.
“Any time you do that against that [Yankees] lineup, you have to be performing at a very high level, and Ras has been doing that against them,” Rays supervisor Kevin Cash stated.
Rasmussen has but to allow a run in opposition to the Yankees in his profession, having spun 21 scoreless innings (since July 28, 2021) in opposition to the Bombers. It’s the third-longest scoreless streak to begin a profession vs. the Yankees within the Expansion Era (since 1961), behind John Morris (22 1/3) and Troy Percival (21 1/3), based on the Elias Sports Bureau.
“He’s got quality pitches; he’s not just a one, two-pitch guy,” Judge stated. “He’s a guy that can run a four-seamer, sinker in there. He’s got the big curveball, sweeper, and a little cutter that he mixes in there for a strike when he needs it. When we get our pitch in the zone, we can’t foul it off, can’t miss it, or hit it into the ground. We’ve got to do some damage on it.”
Germán matched Rasmussen into the fifth, when first baseman Anthony Rizzo booted a Josh Lowe grounder, then noticed Lowe race residence to attain on Yandy Díaz’s double. Germán recorded the primary two outs of the sixth inning, then walked Taylor Walls on 5 pitches.
Boone had seen sufficient, eradicating Germán after 87 pitches, simply shy of his season excessive of 91, in favor of right-hander Ron Marinaccio.
“I thought Domingo was really good,” Boone stated. “Domingo did a good job with his fastball, not being so predictable and getting them off the offspeed a little bit. But I was just going to Ron there at that point for the bottom [of the lineup].”
Marinaccio permitted a single and hit a batter earlier than leaving a changeup over the plate to Lowe, who pounded it off the plexiglass of the right-field bullpen for a bases-clearing double.
“It’s been a pitch that’s been super successful for me,” Marinaccio stated. “I’ve faced these guys a decent amount of times now so far these first few years. They could be picking up on some tendencies, so I’m making sure I’m mixing it up, moving it in and out.”
Lowe later added a two-run homer within the eighth off Ryan Weber. The Yanks narrowly prevented a shutout within the ninth, as Gleyber Torres delivered a two-out, two-run single.
“It’s tough, especially because this [Rays] team is sitting at the top,” Judge stated. “You want to try to gain some ground on them, get a couple of wins here and keep it close. But we’ve got four games here at home, and we’re looking forward to getting that next one.”
