You don’t need a copy of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary to define the dog days of August, you just had to watch today’s contest between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Like every game since the start of summer, it was a slog, but this one was a particular slog for the first two-thirds, with the Yankee starter living on corners he couldn’t spot, key errors blowing up pitch counts, and George Springer and Ernie Clement tormenting us for (hopefully) the final time this year. At least the Yankees came out on the right side of this game, and this series, with Ben Rice delivering the big hit in the sixth and Jazz Chisholm Jr. adding insurance to lock up an 8-3 win.
This was a game designed to aggravate me, personally, with Carlos Rodón on the bump. Win lose or draw I’ve never found Rodón to be a pleasant viewing experience, with him clodding around the mound and getting into 2-2 counts seemingly every hitter. He threw 76 pitches today, 10 more than his return start against the Orioles, 41 of them were four-seamers, and look at his lack of command:
Look particularly up above the zone armside, and down and in gloveside. These are easy takes for MLB hitters, especially a lineup like Toronto’s that doesn’t swing and miss much. Sure enough, Carlos walked two against two strikeouts, a predictable line when you rely so much on a fastball that you can’t control.
He only surrendered one earned run, with the second man scoring after a huge George Lombard Jr. error. In the fourth inning, after getting Alejandro Kirk to open the frame, Rodón gave up a double to Springer, and walked Kazuma Okamoto to put two men aboard. Lombard then flubbed a ground ball hit right at him:
As YES viewers, we know you can’t assume the double play, but there were two outs available on that ground ball, and Lombard got none. It was his third straight game with an error, and it forced Carlos to throw another dozen pitches in the frame. The Jays only got one run — Daz Cameron’s sac fly brought Springer in — but the cost to the starter had to be borne as well.
Spencer Jones continues his strong play of late, opening the scoring in the second inning with a double to bring Lombard in. Jones himself scored two batters later, with Austin Wells taking his place at second and making it 2-0 early. It looked like the Yankees might put the game away early, but they wouldn’t threaten again until the sixth.
Loading the bases with nobody out, the club squandered two chances to break the 2-2 tie. Wells struck out, José Caballero did get a ball in the air, but not deep enough to bring in a run. Trent Grisham did manage to work a walk to make the game 3-2, but it felt like we were about to walk away without much to show for it. Thankfully Benny Barrels had a sterling AB and dropped a ball into right field for two runs:
View LinkBetween that and a single earlier in the game, I hope today was something of a release valve for Ben. He has not looked good for about a month, and with Cody Bellinger back in the lineup it may feel like there’s slightly less pressure on the young lefty.
Speaking of release valves:
View LinkThat was Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s first home run since August 4th. Perhaps nobody in baseball has cost themselves more potential money as a free agent than Jazz this year, and while it’ll be hard to make his year-end stats look good, a hot final month would go a long way to washing the taste of the season out.
Grisham rounded out the day at the plate with a little more insurance:
View LinkWe also need to give a tip of the hat to the bullpen, and to Aaron Boone. With Carlos Rodón done after four innings, and the game tied, Boone went to Paul Blackburn, his second-or-third best relief option at this point in the season. It was maybe earlier than a script would dictate, but going to a higher leverage guy to keep the game tied bought the offense the time it needed to put the game out of reach. Ryan Yarbrough and Brett Headrick got five and four outs respectively to close the game, a total of five innings by the bullpen, just one run allowed.
The Rays also won today, something the Yankees have no control over. They won their series and are a game closer to the AL East leaders than they were on Friday, three back. New York gets the day off tomorrow before those hated Houston Astros, themselves division leaders at press time despite a .500 record, come to the Bronx for a three-game set. First pitch from Will Warren will be at 7:05pm ET.
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