With the Yankees’ offense taking a 29-inning scoreless streak into Wednesday’s game against the Angels, James Rowson understood the questioning. He understood the concern. And he understood the frustration.
But the hitting coach projected confidence that the Bombers’ drought would end.
“I expect this to pass over,” Rowson said before a 3-2 Yankees loss. He was technically correct, but the club’s sixth defeat in a row hardly came off as triumphant for the offense.
While the Yankees continued to fall short in the scoring department, an Anthony Volpe error in the eighth inning gave the Angels their decisive run.
Tim Hill had just inherited a one-out, bases-loaded jam from Fernando Cruz, but the side-winding lefty induced a groundball from Jo Adell. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Volpe booted the ball before throwing it away in an attempt to get an out at second base.
The bottom of the inning then saw Trent Grisham fail to get a bunt down with two on and nobody out before swinging and popping up near home plate on a 2-1 count. Aaron Judge then flew out before Cody Bellinger ended the threat with a popup before the Yankees failed to capitalize on an inning-opening Angels error in the ninth.
Earlier, the Yankees did prove Rowson right, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke their scoreless streak at 30.1 innings in the second frame with a sky-high, second-deck, solo homer off Jack Kochanowicz.
All that Jazz 🎷 pic.twitter.com/esMmyT7OXo
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 18, 2025
Chisholm’s shot just barely stayed fair, ending a stretch that had led to the Yankees being shut out in three consecutive games prior to Wednesday. Their nightmare over, the Yankees mobbed Chisholm in the dugout after he became the team’s first player to cross home plate since Saturday.
Chisholm’s 10th home run of the season also tied the game at one after Nolan Schanuel hit his own second-deck dinger in the first inning. However, Bellinger, who said the Yankees needed to “wake up” after Tuesday’s 4-0 loss, hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. That gave the pinstripers their first lead since their 1-0 win over the Royals last Thursday.
The edge was short-lived, as Adell added to the barrage of bases-empty blasts when he crushed Ryan Yarbrough’s first pitch of the fifth into the visiting bullpen at Yankee Stadium.
Yarbrough totaled 5.1 innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts and 69 pitches. While the Yankees didn’t score much on his watch, they had gone six straight games without offering their starters run support.
Kochanowicz, meanwhile, only allowed two hits — the homers — walked three and struck out eight over 5.1 innings. He entered the game with a 5.53 ERA, the highest of any qualified starter.
With the middling Angels having already won the series, the Yankees will try to avoid a sweep in their own building on Thursday.
Carlos Rodón will start the matinée for the Yanks. He’ll be opposed by fellow left-hander Tyler Anderson.
