Daily Report – 7/1/26
Yankees
For the first half of June, it felt like the Yankees were fending off the Swoon. But since June 17, the inevitable has occurred: The Yankees are 3-10 with a -31 run differential, including last night’s 9-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers. This 13-game stretch has featured a 0-for-25 drought with runners in scoring position and an incident between Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a lollipop. Now, it has culminated with six straight losses.
In baseball, offensive slumps are difficult to overcome. But when flailing lumber is paired with disastrous starting pitching, a team’s identity can risk redefining itself. Thankfully, the Yankees can point to injuries as the cause of their struggles at the plate, but in the process, their rotation has taken an inexplicable turn.
Despite never having Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, and Gerrit Cole healthy together, the Yankees arguably had baseball’s best starting pitching core in April and May. But the rotation hasn’t been the same through its last two cycles. Cam Schlittler, who surrendered a career-high six earned runs yesterday, is a major reason why.
In his last seven starts, Schlittler is 2-3 with a 3.08 ERA across 38 innings. The quality of his stuff hasn’t faltered, but his command hasn’t been up to its crisp standards. Schlittler, 8-5, took his second straight loss yesterday. Of the seven hits he permitted, five came against pitches left over the heart of the plate, and four left the ballpark. Schlittler gave up four runs on three homers in the first inning alone.
“It’s frustrating,” Schlittler said. “We’re just not playing good ball right now. It’s my job to come in here and try to stop that bleeding, and I couldn’t get that done. So, [to] put the team down [four] runs in the first [inning], it’s not encouraging, especially against a guy like [Skubal].
“I got ahead a lot in the first [inning]. Just didn’t execute with two strikes. For a team that likes to put the ball in the air off fastballs, I just didn’t get the job done. I just didn’t make the right pitches when it mattered.”
An offensive slump is one thing, but if a team wants any hope of bouncing back, they need to get quality outings from their starting pitchers. After Monday’s disaster, Yankees fans turned their heads to Schlittler, their ace, but he couldn’t deliver.
Why?
The “June Swoon,” of course! And it always tends to find Aaron Boone’s teams. The Yankees have finished this June with a 12-14 record. They were 13-14 last June, 14-13 in 2024, and 11-12 in 2023.
Because the Yankees avoided the June Swoon for half the month, it delivered all 10 plagues at once rather than gradually. The lineup, the rotation, the bullpen, and the defense are all struggling simultaneously.
Heck, the Yankees, who surrendered 22 unearned runs in their first 74 games, have permitted 21 in their last seven. If that stat doesn’t reveal all you need to know about the Yankees’ current state, then I don’t know what will.
How about this? Because of a single in the ninth inning by Anthony Volpe, the Yankees narrowly avoided worsening their franchise record-setting four-game with three hits or fewer. Also, according to Katie Sharp, the 2026 Yankees are the first MLB team since 1898 to lose five straight games with at most 16 hits and at least 45 strikeouts.
Not to mention that the Yankees’ 16 hits in their last five games are the fewest in any five-game span in franchise history, and in four of their last five contests, starting pitchers have limited them to a single hit.
Disaster struck early in yesterday’s game. With two outs in the first inning, Kerry Carpenter lifted a cutter deep to right-center field. Spencer Jones tracked the ball to the wall, and as he leapt, it looked like he had prevented a home run. But Jones’s contact with the wall caused the ball to dislodge from his glove, and Detroit took a 1-0 lead.
After that, Schlittler continued to bleed. The next batter, Riley Greene, struck a high sinker over half the rows in the second deck in right field, putting the Tigers ahead 2-0. Colt Keith followed with a single, and Spencer Torkelson launched the 10th pitch he saw high over Max Schuemann’s head in left field for a two-run bomb.
So, the Yankees effectively began the game down 4-0. What else could a reeling lineup ask for? Actually, there is an answer to that question, and his name is Tarik Skubal. The two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner allowed just one hit while notching nine strikeouts across six two-run, walk-free innings.
Ben Rice managed a solo home run off Skubal in the first inning, but the Yankees didn’t get another baserunner until Schuemann got hit by a pitch to start the sixth. Before that, Detroit tacked on a couple more runs. In the third inning, Greene homered again, this time for two runs, helping Detroit take a 6-1 lead.
In the sixth inning, José Caballero threw a ground ball off the wall behind third base. With Ryan Yarbrough pitching without any outs, James Outman took advantage of Caballero’s error and crushed a three-run home run to right field. 9-1 Tigers.
“We know we have a lot of talent,” Rice said. “It’s such a long season. It just so happens that right now, it’s kind of like the whole team is going through something all at once.”
The Yankees mustered two more runs after trailing 9-1, but by that point, the night wasn’t young anymore. With their sixth straight loss, the Yankees fell 2.5 games behind the surging Tampa Bay Rays for the division lead.
After the game, Boone admitted he was concerned about the state of his team. “We’re not doing enough,” he said. “We’re not scoring runs. That’s the name of the game. We’ve got to find a way. Again, [I’m] confident in the group, even when we’re a little depleted, that we have guys capable, but we’ve got to get some guys going.
“It’s tough when you’re playing uphill like we have been most of the week.”
If the Yankees want to avoid getting swept at 1:35 today, RHP Will Warren (7-3, 3.75 ERA) will have to put up zeroes out of the gate. The struggling righty is 2-2 in his last seven starts. He has permitted 17 runs in his last 36.2 innings, including 11 runs (seven earned) between his last two starts.
Meanwhile, the Yankees’ lineup will have to muscle more than one hit off RHP Troy Melton (4-1, 2.39 ERA). Here is today’s starting lineup:
1B Ben Rice (L)
RF Jasson Domínguez (S)
LF Cody Bellinger (L)
DH Amed Rosario (R)
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L)
SS Anthony Volpe (R)
C Austin Wells (L)
CF José Caballero (R)
3B Oswaldo Cabrera (S)
SP: RHP Will Warren (7-3, 3.75 ERA)
Schedule
1:35 PM: NYY vs. DET; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: RHP Will Warren (7-3, 3.75 ERA) vs. RHP Troy Melton (4-1, 2.39 ERA)
