Gerrit Cole got injured in the 5–1 loss to the Blue Jays
The Yankees lost 5–1 to the Blue Jays on Tuesday in a game that ace Gerrit Cole had to leave in the fourth inning due to left hamstring tightness. He hurt his left leg and he thought by staying in the game longer he might further damage his leg.
After the game he said he hurt his hamstring on an over stride and he was not yet sure if he would be able to make his next start. He wanted to wait 24–48 hours to evaluate his pain and see where he was at. This is obviously concerning for the Yankees, especially if he has to miss more than one start.
Cole was 4–0 with 0.73 ERA in four starts for Cole since coming off injured list before tonight, and he was back to consistently dominating like he did the first two months of the season.
He got a career high 32 swings and misses in his previous start against Angels and had 0 walks and 15 strikeout. Cole has six starts this season with 10 Ks and no walks, which is the most by a Yankee all time in a season.
Only 50 percent of the time Cole throws a fastball on first pitch this season. That is 8th fewest in the league. Cole has the most strikeouts on 97 mph pitch or higher. He had a strikeout on a 100 mph fastball to the first batter of the game, Corey Dickerson. He threw 48 pitches in first three innings.
The Yankees have been a very streaky team this season and the offense’s recent ineptitude has heavily factored into the recent futility. The Yankees are on a 4-game losing streak and are 2–8 in their last 10 games. The offense has scored just 3.3 runs a game in the last 10 games. In their previous 13 games, when the team was 13–0, the offense scored 5.8 runs a game
Going back farther, before this 2–8 slide, the Yankees had gone 35–11 over their previous 46 games since right before the All-Star break.
Joey Gallo, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were a combined 1–35 in three previous games coming into tonight. That’s not a recipe of success for the Yankees. Gallo got the game off on Tuesday due to his struggles, and it would make sense if he didn’t play on Wednesday also.
Judge nearly hit a homer in the first inning but Teoscar Hernandez made a catch at the wall. Judge now does not have a hit in his last 17 at-bats after going 0–4. He is 0–4 or worse in four straight games for first time in his career. He has had hard contact but could not avoid the fielder on a few occasions.
The Yankees offense has really been inept during the 4-game losing streak. Excluding the 8–7 loss to the Orioles, they scored a combined four runs in the three other losses. The team’s last extra base hit was Gary Sanchez’s homer on Sunday in the 6th inning, which was 21 innings ago.
“It’s a 162 game season,” Anthony Rizzo said. “You’re going to have really good weeks, really bad weeks and in between it’s about grinding. When things are going good, it’s easy and everyone loves you and when they’re going bad, you never think you are going to get up. It’s about staying in that middle, continuing to work and put your best foot forward.”
The Yankees got a little unlucky since they hit a lot of balls that were caught at the warning track in this game. However, they did hurt their chance at putting runs on the scoreboard since they were only 1–4 with runners in scoring position, they left six runners on base, DJ LeMahieu grounded into a double play and the team had eight strikeouts.
Gio Urshela, who had a .274 average when he went on the injured list, is only 3–29 with zero RBI in his nine games since coming off of the injured list on August 26. He went 0–4 against the Blue Jays on Tuesday and his average is now .260. He could use a game or two off as well.
Gallo has been really struggling just like Urshela. In Gallo’s last nine games, he is only 2–31 with one homer and two RBI. Overall, in his 35 games with the Yankees, he has a very low .130 average with six homers and 16 RBI. In his 130 games played this season he leads the American League in walks (102) and strikeouts (186). He has a strikeout in 61 of his 151 plate appearances with the Yankees.
The only run that the Yankees scored was an RBI single in the third by Rizzo that scored Andrew Velazquez. Rizzo and Brett Gardner, two lefties in the lineup, went a combined 4–8 with one RBI (they were both 2–4). Everyone else in the lineup was a combined 4–26.
Velazquez got the start instead of Gleyber Torres. Torres has made a few errors and has not made a few plays that he should have made since coming off of the injured list. He is also only 3–13 with zero extra base hits in the four games since returning to the lineup. It would make sense of Velazquez starts the next two to three games since he is much better defensively and he went 2–3 in Tuesday’s game.
Velazquez, who grew up in The Bronx, releases the ball much faster than Torres. He got two of the three outs in the first inning. The Gardner and Velazquez combo will make sense the next few games. Greg Allen would also make sense in the outfield, but he is in Triple-A still.
Gardner struck out looking to end the game on a 3–2 pitch. The Yankees have scored only one run in their last 21 innings. The Yankees also have zero extra-base hits in their last 21 innings, which is evidence of the offense as a whole being in a slump.
A big issue right now is the Yankees offense in addition to Cole injury. The Yankees have 127 double plays this season, which is second most in majors to the rebuilding Nationals 128.
Cole’s injury makes the postseason even more of an unknown at this point. About a week ago it seemed like it was almost a guarantee that they would get the first wild card spot, but they now only have a 0.5 game lead over the Red Sox for the first wild card spot and the surging Blue Jays, who have gone 9–1 in their last 10 games, are only two games behind the Red Sox.
Blue Jays got a sacrifice fly in the 4th on a ball hit to warning track that Judge caught to make it 2–1.
When Cole walked off the field in the fourth inning with the athletic trainer, David Cone thought that he got a blister, because of his trouble throwing breaking balls to that point in the game. However, it was actually the hamstring. The last pitch he threw was 95 mph, which is lower than his usual velocity, but he threw a few 100 mph fastballs, including his first pitch of the game.
Marcus Semien, who went 2–3 and now has 38 homers, hit a deep homer in the bottom of the 5th for his 7th homer of the season against Yankees. Albert Abreu threw him a 97 mph fastball on the inside corner, and Semien is a good fastball hitter. Alejandro Kirk hit a solo homer in 7th inning and then put on the Blue Jays home run jacket. Blue Jays have a very potent offense.
The Yankees bullpen did well in this game as they allowed just that one run in 5.1 innings and had five strikeouts and two hits allowed. The offense needs to improve soon if the Yankees are going to hang on to the first wild card spot.
Long Island native Steven Matz got the start for the Blue Jays and only allowed one earned run in seven innings. He had 1.65 ERA in his last six starts coming into Tuesday’s game and now has a solid 3.70 ERA in 25 starts this season.
Matz has been firing on all cylinders and much better than when he was in any of his previous four seasons with the Mets. He allowed just one run against Yankees when he faced them in May.
Joakim Soria, who was an All-Star in 2008 and 2010, got the hold for the Blue Jays after his scoreless seventh inning. He was pitching in his seventh game with the Blue Jays after previously pitching for the Diamondbacks this season. The 37-year-old righty from Mexico is in his 14th MLB season and has worn a lot of uniforms as he has played on nine different teams.
Jonathan Loaisiga, who went on the injured list on Saturday, has been the team’s best relief pitcher all season, and now makes the overworked bullpen more of a question mark.
The Yankees will play two more games at home against the Blue Jays in The Bronx and then will play a three-game series in Queens against the Mets this weekend. The Yankees need Judge, Stanton, Urshela and Gallo to improve at the plate for the offense to improve.
