Offense goes back to sleep while Tanaka struggles again in loss

Coming off a great offensive effort on Monday night, the Yankees threw up a dud on Tuesday in the batter’s box and on the mound. In his last start out, Masahiro Tanaka started strong before fading badly in the fifth inning. Well this time out he didn’t even start strong before putting the Yankees in a bind. Couple that with an evening full of stranded base runners for the offense and you have exactly what tonight was, a very frustrating game that felt like one the Yankees played themselves out of from the start.

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The Yankees were down in this game before they even came to the plate in the bottom of the first. The first five batters reached base thanks to three hits, a walk and a rare error by Didi Gregorius. Tanaka was able to get a double play and limit the damage to just three in the inning. The Marlins would add another run in the top of the second inning when Cameron Maybin bunted for a hit and made it to second thanks to another error, this time by Tyler Austin. He would come around to score to make it 4-0.

While the Marlins would stretch their lead as the game went on, the Yankee offense had plenty of opportunities to strike back and make this a ballgame and they failed over and over. With talented but inexperienced rookie Jarlin Garcia on the mound, the Yankees employed the right approach in the first inning. Garcia struggled with his command from the jump but despite three walks in the inning, a double play killed their momentum and they squandered the opportunity. They would put two more runners on in the third inning as well, but the opportunity was wasted. Despite issuing five walks to the Yankees, Garcia allowed no runs and just one hit which came with one out in the fifth inning. Giancarlo Stanton continued to struggle, going 0-4 and squandering two separate scoring chances with men on base. Overall the team went 0-10 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday.

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While the Yankees failed to get back into the game early, Tanaka held the Marlins at four until the fifth inning when the wheels came off and the game was put out of reach. With two outs in the inning, Miguel Andujar couldn’t make a play on slow dribbler to third. A few batters later JT Realmuto put one over the right field fence and the deficit was 7-0. Tanaka was relieved by Luis Cessa to start the next inning. Cessa, who was just called up today, would pitch two innings before departing in his third inning of work with an injury. The injury bug has been a big problem for this Yankee team so far and it struck again on Tuesday. Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman both said Cessa's injury was to his oblique. With CC Sabathia set to return from the DL later this week, Cessa could be headed there. 

The Marlins would tack on a few more runs in the later innings while the Yankees would strand a few more baserunners in scoring position. Miguel Andujar hit his first career major league home run in the bottom of the ninth for the Yankees only run of the evening. All of that adds up to a 9-1 Marlins win.

Winning Pitcher: Jarlin Garcia (1-0, 0.86 ERA): 5 IP, H, 5 BB, 2 K
Losing Pitcher: Masahiro Tanaka (2-2, 6.45 ERA): 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K 

Notables:

Miguel Andujar: 2-4, HR (1), RBI, R

Aaron Judge: 0-2, 2 BB

Brett Gardner: 0-2 2 BB

Giancarlo Stanton: 0-4, 2 K

JT Realmuto: 2-4, 4 RBI, 2 R

The Yankees will be will be off on Wednesday before squaring off against the Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx on Thursday. The game will be broadcast on the YES Network, with the start time at 6:35 pm. The probable starters are Aaron Sanchez (1-1, 3.66 ERA) and the returning CC Sabathia (0-0, 4.00 ERA).  

Article by Matt Graziano

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