Daily Report – 6/23/26
Yankees
After last night’s 5-3 loss to the 34-44 Detroit Tigers, the Yankees’ third consecutive loss for the first time since May 22, one major question arose: Did the Yankees think they were in a candy store?
It wasn’t just their struggles at the plate, or the five runs Gerrit Cole allowed (which I will outline later), that suggested the Yankees didn’t care about yesterday’s game. Jazz Chisholm Jr. looked dazed from the start, and he finished 1-for-4 at the plate with two strikeouts.
After Chisholm struck out with runners at first and second base to end the top of the third inning, the Tigers teed off on Cole in the bottom half with three runs. Then, after a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth inning, Chisholm noticed the second-base dirt cam was sticking out.
Because Chisholm spent so much time trying to fix the dangling camera himself, it took six minutes for play to resume. At that point, having thrown 68 pitches through 3 1/3 innings, Cole was already way off pace for an effective start. The warmup pitches he had to throw during the delay worsened his load.
Cole ultimately surrendered that fourth-inning leadoff single, handing Detroit a 4-1 lead. It was Cole’s fourth of five two-strike hits, this one a double that scored a run because José Caballero was too slow to throw the ball (which he eventually delivered errantly).
Since he disrupted Cole’s rhythm and cost him extra pitches, Chisholm was partially to blame for Detroit’s fourth run. He must not have cared, though, because in the bottom of the fifth inning, Chisholm was spotted fielding second base with a lollipop in his mouth.
I cannot emphasize enough how much this irritated me. Chisholm had just contributed to Detroit’s fourth run. The Yankees were headed for their third straight loss, even more embarrassing because Detroit is 10 games under .500. Not only that, but without Judge, Stanton, or Grisham in the lineup, Chisholm has failed to step up.
The Yankees were in the middle of a Major League Baseball game, not a trip to Dylan’s Candy Bar.
“I didn’t know about it until after the game,” said a “pissed off” manager, Aaron Boone. “He and I talked, and that won’t be going on.”
Stanton and Judge are the leaders in the Yankees’ clubhouse. Without them, it is fair for the team’s offensive production to suffer, but the expectations in the clubhouse should not change. These players, including Chisholm, are far too experienced and familiar with how to behave in a Major League environment.
The players who have been with the Yankees before, including Chisholm, who went to the World Series in 2024, should know better than to slack off. The pinstripes are a burden, but they are also a privilege. And they do not mesh well with bright green lollipops.
Back in Spring Training, Chisholm boldly declared he would achieve a 50-50 season in 2026. Three months into his walk year, he is batting .226 with a .716 OPS, 11 home runs, and 23 stolen bases. He is a ways away from a 50-50 season.
Chisholm’s antics, like wearing Stanton’s pants or trying out his different teammates’ bats, are part of his game. Jazz wouldn’t be Jazz if he didn’t let his personality show on the field. But recently, things have gotten out of hand, and the team’s performance hasn't helped.
In addition to his .176 batting average in his last 15 games, Chisholm left a game early last week after fouling a ball off his mid-section. As unbearable as the pain may have been, Boone’s postgame remarks suggested he didn’t seem too thrilled that his second baseman failed to power through.
Perhaps Chisholm doesn’t care, but if there were any accountability in the Yankees’ clubhouse, he would have received a warning. That would have meant his delay of yesterday’s game was his second strike in one week. And if the rules of baseball apply in this analogy, assuming strike three was the lollipop incident, he’d be out.
But here’s the issue: “Out” doesn’t mean a single thing. It isn’t like the Yankees will bench Chisholm. Who else would play at second base? Caballero? Max Schuemann? Ryan McMahon? This team was constructed with a deep bench, which is why the Yankees are more than afloat without their captain. But the costs of a limited roster cannot stay hidden forever.
Since a shallow roster can slaughter run production, Cole felt a heavy burden to give his team a chance. Unfortunately, he fell short by allowing five runs on nine hits across 4 1/3 innings.
“I thought stuff-wise, it was alright,” Boone said. “And he had some swing and miss going. Had some strikeouts. They didn’t miss, though. When he missed or was a little off with the fastball, they were able to square it up. I thought he had a good slider going, but in some situations, he didn’t quite get that down enough to get swing-and-miss or weak contact.”
Of the nine hits Cole allowed, five came on pitches he left over the heart of the plate, as did four of Detroit’s five RBI batted balls. Four of Detroit’s nine hits came on his fastball, and the home run he allowed came against a center-cut changeup, a pitch he couldn’t garner much movement on.
“The opposition is going to put pressure on you sometimes,” said Cole, against whom Detroit’s leadoff batters hit for the cycle. “The reality is, it’s not the try-hard league; it’s the get-it-done league, and we just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Cole’s stuff was there on every pitch, aside from his changeup, which spun precisely at its average rate. Because he couldn’t command his slider, Cole’s changeup was his best backup option. In 2024, he threw his changeup 4% of the time, but this season, he removed his cutter and has used his changeup 15% of the time, the most in his career.
“They pressured him with a lot of good at-bats,” Boone said. “Even early in the first couple of innings, he held them off the scoreboard, but they were able to get the leadoff runner on, pressure him, and make him work pretty hard. They put some good swings on some pitches they got in a little bit of the heart [of the plate], and they’ve got a chance.”
Despite the final result, the Yankees got on the scoreboard first. With two outs in the second inning, Caballero walked and stole second base before Ali Sánchez scored him with a double off Framber Valdez. The hit broke a 0-for-25 drought with runners in scoring position that had haunted the Yankees since Friday.
Detroit snatched a 3-1 lead in the third inning, and by the fifth, they were up 5-1. Amed Rosario gave the Yankees two more runs with an opposite-field homer in the seventh, but that was it. Now, the Yankees have dropped three straight games for the first time since mid-May.
“I just think it’s part of the season,” Rosario said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “We’ve been there before. [Tonight], we have a really good opportunity to tie the series and hopefully win this series. You can’t really panic. You understand you go through some stretches like that, but looking forward to [tonight].”
Tonight, at 6:40 PM, the Yankees look to break down the candy store walls as LHP Carlos Rodón (3-2, 3.50 ERA) toes the slab against the righty Casey Mize (2-4, 2.58 ERA) (YES, Gotham Sports).
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the New York Yankees:
DH Ben Rice (L)
RF Jasson Domínguez (S)
LF Cody Bellinger (L)
1B Paul Goldschmidt (R)
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L)
CF Spencer Jones (L)
3B José Caballero (R)
C Austin Wells (L)
SS Anthony Volpe (R)
SP: LHP Carlos Rodón (3-2, 3.50 ERA)
Schedule
6:40 PM: NYY at DET; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: LHP Carlos Rodón (3-2, 3.50 ERA) vs. RHP Casey Mize (2-4, 2.58 ERA)
Cover Image Courtesy: YES Network
