With the Yankees fresh off a four-error evening in Toronto, Aaron Boone insisted Wednesday night that his club’s defensive woes had mostly occurred against the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.
“I think it’s here and it’s in this building we haven’t played well,” the manager said, referring to two losing series the Yankees endured north of the border this month.
Asked what made him think that, Boone replied, “I don’t know if it’s just coming to the turf. That’s not really an excuse. It’s the same game, but obviously, I think in these two series, we’ve given them too many outs, and it’s cost us.”
On Friday, the Bombers returned to the grassy confines of Yankee Stadium. They didn’t leave their sloppiness in Canada, though, as they committed two errors in a 12-5 loss to the Phillies.
The most notable mishap came in the seventh inning with runners on second and third with one out, Luke Weaver on the mound, Nick Castellanos at the plate and the Yankees up, 3-2. Castellanos, waving at an outside pitch, tapped a grounder to Paul Goldschmidt, who backhanded the ball before sailing a throw toward home plate.
A good throw likely wouldn’t have stopped the speedy Trea Turner from scoring the tying run, but Goldschmidt was charged with an error as Castellanos reached second.
J.T. Realmuto then followed up with a three-run, go-ahead homer off Weaver.
Anthony Volpe responded with a solo home run off Jordan Romano in the bottom of the seventh, adding to a barrage of bases-empty blasts after Cody Bellinger, Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton all went deep off Phillies starter Taijuan Walker.
Aaron Judge added a sac fly in the seventh, but the Yankees fell way short in the end after Kyle Schwarber clubbed his second two-run homer of the night off Ian Hamilton in the eighth inning.
The bomb gave the Phillies a comfy cushion. It also reminded onlookers that the Yankees need a few bullpen upgrades before the July 31 trade deadline, as their incumbent group entered play with a 4.07 ERA, 20th in the majors. Then the pen surrendered 10 earned runs, with Tim Hill also being charged with two and Scott Effross allowing four.
“Bodies, in particular, would be helpful,” pitching coach Matt Blake recently told the Daily News, though there would ideally be a lefty among multiple additions.
Schwarber’s first dinger of the night came in the fifth inning, as he took Will Warren yard for his 1,000th career hit. It was Warren’s only meaningful mistake of the night, though he also threw away a potential double play ball in the second inning. However, he overcame that error by striking out Otto Kemp and Bryson Stott.
Warren totaled seven strikeouts on the night, as well as five hits, two earned runs, three walks and 89 pitches over 5.2 innings. The rookie right-hander now has a 4.83 ERA over 22 starts.
With another untidy loss in the books, the second-place Yankees are now 56-47 on the season and 5.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East.
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