Daily Report – 7/27/26
Yankees
Pitching? Not a problem. Ultimately, Will Warren is going to get relegated to the bullpen anyway, so his recent stretch of troublesome outings, including consecutive starts with six whiffs or fewer, shouldn’t impact the Yankees’ October dreams too much.
But to win baseball games, runs must be scored. And at the highest level, the most successful teams are the ones that can score runs in different ways. The Yankees played a couple of gritty games on Friday and Saturday, holding the Philadelphia Phillies to one run as they secured a series victory. But the Yankees only scored four total runs in those two games.
The timelines on Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton remain unclear. To make matters worse, following Saturday’s win, Cody Bellinger landed on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain. Suddenly, an already thin lineup looks even worse, so much so that Max Schuemann is leading off tonight against the White Sox.
When the Yankees were without Trent Grisham last month, they lost seven straight games and put up record-low offensive numbers. Granted, Bellinger, Ben Rice, and Paul Goldschmidt all slumped at once while the pitching also spiraled.
However, with the way the division standings are shaping, with Boston 4.5 games behind New York and Tampa Bay three games ahead, the Yankees cannot afford another extended losing streak. And with the trade deadline one week away, Brian Cashman should begin making moves immediately.
The Red Sox opened the trade market on Saturday by trading pitcher Connelly Early to Washington for Curtis Mead. Hopefully, that loosens the market a bit, although conflicting reports have been released regarding the Yankees’ deadline priorities, especially at the catcher position. With Shea Langeliers off the board with an injury, only Ryan Jeffers and Hunter Goodman remain.
Nevertheless, assuming Judge returns by October, this is the season for the Yankees to go all-in at the deadline, even if it means trading Spencer Jones or George Lombard Jr. Jones has left much to be desired after a handful of call-ups, and the Yankees still haven’t debuted Lombard, even though he has been raking at Triple-A.
Lombard is exactly the kind of player that this team needs. Teams like the Cardinals and Pirates have surged this season on the backs of talented rookies. Plus, with how anemic the Yankees’ offense has been lately, there isn’t any downside to testing Lombard at the Major League level.
Not to mention that Anthony Volpe, whose sixth-inning error yesterday led to the Phillies’ second bases-clearing double with two outs, doesn’t deserve to play shortstop for this team anymore. Last night. Philadelphia struck early against Warren, who allowed six runs in three innings.
In his first 12 starts this season, Warren posted a 7-1 record. In his last eight starts, Warren has a 6.57 ERA. When asked why he hasn’t regained his rhythm yet, Warren said, “I don’t know. We’ll figure that out, so... it’s hard going out there and doing exactly what happened tonight, so it’s pretty frustrating.”
The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Trea Turner tripled, and Kyle Schwarber brought him home with a sacrifice fly. In the second inning, Bryson Stott crushed a fastball yard at 110.5 mph to put his team ahead 2-0. Then, with two outs in the third inning, Schwarber walked, Bryce Harper doubled, Brandon Marsh walked, and Alec Bohm cleared the bases with a full-count double. Stott followed with a single for a 6-0 lead.
“I don’t know,” Warren said when asked about his outing. “It was pretty raw, so pulled one down and in to Stott; he hit a homer. Harper down and in. Bohm battled there. Put a good swing on a good pitch, and the runs cashed in, so, overall, pretty [bad].”
The Yankees fought back in the fifth inning as Christopher Sánchez took his third crack at their lineup. The Yankees scored three runs, cutting the deficit in half. In the bottom of the frame, Camilo Dovla stranded two inherited runners by striking out the side, but that didn’t give the Yankees’ offense any extra juice.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Phillies broke the game open after Bryan De La Cruz reached second base on Volpe’s throwing error. De La Cruz chopped a changeup to shortstop, but Volpe couldn’t turn the routine play. Then, Amed Rosario mishandled the throw on a bunt by Justin Crawford, putting runners at the corners for Trea Turner.
Ryan Yarbrough then gave up three hits, loading the bases without any outs. He struck out his next two batters before plunking Alec Bohm, which guided Philly’s eighth run home. But that wasn’t all, because Stott cleared the bases with a three-run double, giving the Phillies an 11-3 lead.
Ben Rice homered in the seventh inning and doubled in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to erase an eight-run hole. “In some ways, we had better at-bats tonight, and I thought, especially against Sánchez, a lot of our righties pressured him pretty good,” said Aaron Boone.
“Whether it was controlling the strike zone, creating some traffic, we gave ourselves some opportunities. But ultimately, we didn't play well enough tonight to hold them down enough, obviously.”
After yesterday’s game, Judge was asked how he thinks his team should approach Monday’s deadline. “That’s way above my pay grade, but we’ve got a good team where we’re at, and hopefully that’s what you can do as a player,” he said. “You’ve got to put your team in the best position to give the front office the ability to go out there and get the final pieces. Looking forward to seeing what happens.”
Tonight, at 7:40 PM in Chicago, LHP Max Fried (4-3, 2.97 ERA) will make his second start since returning from the injured list last Thursday (YES, Gotham Sports). LHP Noah Schultz (3-7, 6.04 ERA) will start for the White Sox. Tonight’s game is the first of four on the South Side before the Yankees head to Wrigley Field for a weekend series against the Cubs.
But they will have to do it all without Bellinger, who was diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain this afternoon. He is expected to miss four to six weeks.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the New York Yankees:
LF Max Schuemann (R)
DH Ben Rice (L)
1B Paul Goldschmidt (R)
RF Jasson Domínguez (S)
SS Anthony Volpe (R)
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L)
3B José Caballero (R)
CF Spencer Jones (L)
C Ali Sánchez (R)
SP: LHP Max Fried (4-3, 2.97 ERA)
Schedule
8:00 PM: NYY at CWS; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: LHP Max Fried (4-3, 2.97 ERA) vs. LHP Noah Schultz (3-7, 6.04 ERA)
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees
