Tampa Bay shutout the Yankees on Saturday at Tropicana Field
The Yankees lost the the Tampa Bay Rays, 3–0, on Saturday at Tropicana Field. The last three games the Yankees scored a combined 20 runs when they won two out of those three games after losing nine games in a row, but the Yankees only had two hits and zero runs in this game.
Tyler Glasnow took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. DJ LeMahieu, who went 2–4, had both of the Yankees hits and his first hit with one out in the sixth inning was the teams’ first of the game. The Yankees had a 7.12 ERA against the Rays bullpen coming into this game but they could not continue that success against the bullpen that has thrown the second most innings in the AL this season.
Since All-Star break, before Saturday’s game, LeMahieu had a .311 average, a .423 OBP and .898 OPS and had 11th multi homer game of his career in Friday’s win. Before All-Star break, he had .220 average, .285 OBP and a .643 OPS. LeMahieu has gone the other way more in the second half, which has helped lead to his much better production and numbers that are more similar to his first two seasons with the Yankees and his pre All-Star break numbers last season.
LeMahieu is on a four-game hitting streak and in that span he is 7–15 with five runs scored, three homers and three RBI.
This was Tyler Glasnow’s 15th start this season and this is his most starts in a season in his career in his 8th MLB season. He has a very good slider and curve. Glasnow retired the side in order in the 5th inning and had no hitter through the first 5 innings. Glasnow is one of the better pitchers in the league as his 3.12 ERA would be fourth in the AL if he had thrown enough innings to qualify. He is a 6–8, and he really uses his long frame and release point close to the batter to his advantage and he has lots of movement on his pitches.
Jake Bauers has zero hits in his last 22 at-bats after his strikeout as pinch hitter in the 8th inning. In those 22 at-bats, he has an alarming 14 strikeouts. That strikeout ended the inning and in the 9th LeMahieu singled to leadoff the inning but then Judge, Torres and Stanton got out in order to end the game.
Brandon Lowe hit a ball off the center field wall for a double that scored Randy Arozerena in the 3rd inning to make the score 3–0. In the second inning, Clarke Schmidt allowed a sacrifice fly to two consecutive batters to make the score 2–0. Schmidt was a bright spot for the Yankees in this game.
Schmidt has had a good cutter the last few weeks. Schmidt allowed six hits in 6.2 innings with zero walks and just one earned run since Isiah Kiner-Falefa has an error in the second inning. He has 20 starts allowing three runs or fewer this season (he allowed three overall). Schmidt has allowed two earned runs or less in four of his last five starts but the outlier in that five start stretch was when he allowed eight earned runs in 2.1 innings against the Braves on August 14.
His season long ERA 4.51 would be a good bit lower if not for that start against the Braves. He has allowed three runs or less in 17 of his last 18 starts and his improved cutter has really been helping him. He recorded his first out in the 7th inning of his career with Osleivis Basaba’s groundout.
He had good slider, knuckle curve and cutter in this game. He was efficient since he got through the 6.2 innings throwing 99 pitches. He threw a nasty sweeper to strikeout catcher Rene Pinto for the second out of the 7th inning.
“He definitely did his job, and gave us a chance,” Boone said about Schmidt.
Gerrit Cole tied his season high with 11 strikeouts in the first game of the series against Tampa Bay. If Cole wins the Cy Young, which he is on track to do, he would be the first Yankee to win the Cy Young since Roger Clemens in 2001. Cole leads the league this season with his 2.95 ERA, 27 starts, 168 innings and 146 ERA+. In 2001, Clemens had a 3.51 ERA and a 128 ERA+, so Cole’s season is substantially better than the last Yankee Cy Young winner. Cole has finished second in two other seasons but has not won the award yet.
Cole’s 20 starts allowing two runs or fewer are the most in MLB this season.
The Yankees had two relief pitchers in particular who had been pitching very well going into this game. In Keynan Middleton’s first nine games with the Yankees he had a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings with four hits allowed, one earned run, three walks, 14 strikeouts and a 68.2 ground ball percentage.
Middleton allowed three base runners in 8th on a hit and two walks but had big strikeout with bases loaded to end inning. He had a 3.96 ERA in 39 games this season but after being traded to the Yankees his season ERA is now all the way down to 3.17 after only allowing one earned run in 12 innings with the Bronx Bombers.
Ian Hamilton, who did not pitch in this game, has thrown 7.2 IP and allowed zero runs over his last 3 games. He has dominated this season since his 1.68 ERA this year ranks sixth in the AL for pitchers with a minimum of 40 innings.
The Rays did not have their good hitter Yandy Diaz, who has 17 homers and 66 RBI and a .326 average in 111 games this season, since he was hit by a pitch in the previous game. The Rays said he would likely be available on Sunday’s game. Diaz, who is the team’s first baseman, hits well against the Yankees since he is 12–38 (.316) with two doubles, four homers and nine RBI this season.
Oswald Peraza got the start at shortstop and Anthony Volpe got the rare game off. Volpe, who was the Yankees first round pick in 2019, has played in 128 of the team’s 129 games this season as a rookie. He has shown impressive durability only missing one game in his rookie season.
Volpe has four multi-hit games in his last 10 games, which has raised his average from .211 to .217. In those 10 games, he is 10–35 (.286) with two doubles, one triple, one homers and five RBI. Volpe is on his way to having a 20–20 season as a rookie since with one month left to play he already has 17 homers and 20 steals.
Peraza has gone just 2–18 in his five games since getting called up from Triple-A but he has played very well on defense at third. He will likely improve at the plate soon. He had a .268 average, a .357 OBP with 14 homers, 36 RBI and 16 steals this season at Triple-A, so with continued consistent at-bats his production at the plate should get better and he should be able to get on base at a higher clip since his .357 OBP at Triple-A Scranton was very solid.
In last 40 games, Harrison Bader has a .279 SLG percentage, which is the worst in MLB in that span. Bader, who went 0–3 with a strikeout in this game, is just 3–30 in his last nine games.
