The Yankees were swept in their 2-game set against the Mets
The Yankees lost both game of the Subway Series at Citi Field agains the Mets and allowed at least nine runs in each game. In the second game on Wednesday, they were not competitive as they lost 12–2 after the bullpen allowed seven runs.
The Yankees have now lost four series in a row. They only lost three of their first 22 series this season.
The Yankees have gone 3–9 in their last 12 games. In that span, they lost the last game of their series against the Royals, they lost two out of three at Fenway against the Red Sox, they lost two out of three against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, they lost two out of three against the Braves at Yankee Stadium and then they have just lost both games of the two-game series against the Mets at Citi Field (first game was a 9–7 loss).
“You don’t like getting your teeth kicked in. It’s been a crappy two weeks for us. But it’s part of it. We know it’s coming,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Adversity’s going to hit you. We got hit with a little bit right now.”
They Mets pounded Yankees pitching for seven homers, 21 runs and 24 hits over two nights at Citi Field.
On the other hand, the Mets have been the hottest team in baseball the last few weeks. Since the McDonald’s mascot Grimace threw out the first pitch before the game on June 12, the Mets have gone 11–2, which includes a seven-game winning streak. The Mets were 11 games below .500 on May 29 but they are now exactly .500 after going 17–6 in their last 23 games. The Mets have scored at least five runs in 15 of their last 23 games. The Mets are at .500 for the first time since they were 18–18 on May 10
The Yankees, on the other hand, have allowed at least seven runs seven different times in their last 12 games. This includes a game yesterday that they allowed 12 runs and a game last week against the Orioles that they allowed 17 runs.
Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo were the only positives on offense from the game for the Yankees. Judge went 2–2 with a 2-run homer in the sixth inning that scored Juan Soto and gave the Yankees their only runs. Verdugo went 2–4 and this was a real positive and an improvement for him since in his previous eight games he was just 2–31. His average was .266 with a .319 OBP on June 14 but his average is now .247 and his OBP is .306.
After Judge’s homer and two RBI, he now has 30 homers and 77 RBI, which both lead the league. He has 30 homers and 77 games in 80 game this season after having 37 homers and 75 RBI in 106 games last season. In addition to his homers and RBI, he leads the league with his 23 doubles, .712 SLG%, 1.145 OPS, 217 OPS+ and 203 total bases. He is second in MLB in WAR, second in MLB in OBP and first in the AL in doubles. He has a very impressive 215 wRC+, a .343 BABIP and a .474 wOBP.
Judge is the 3rd player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs prior to an All-Star break three times in his career. The others are Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. Judge and Babe Ruth are also the only player to hit 30 homers in a season before the start of July.
The rest of the lineup outside of Judge and Verdugo went a combined 2–27. Ben Rice went 0–4, Anthony Volpe went 0–5, J.D. Davis went 0–2 (Davis is 0–5 with the Yankees), Juan Soto went 0–2 and Jose Trevino went 0–2. Soto has been struggling recently since in his last nine games he is just 4–27 (.148) with one homer and two RBI. He does have 13 walks in those nine games.
Verdugo hit into a double play with the bases loaded to end the first inning and then he hit into another double play in the fourth inning. Trevino also hit into a double play during this game that had an 87-minute torrential rain delay in the fifth inning. The Yankees were 0–7 with runners in scoring position in this game after going just 2–10 with runners in scoring position in the 9–7 loss in the first game of the series. They would likely have won that game if they were 4–10 or 5–10 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees were an inept 2–17 with runners in scoring position in the two games against their crosstown rivals.
The pitching was not good in this game and it has not been good for much of the last few weeks. The Yankees have now allowed at least nine runs in five different games since June 8 (a span of 17 games). They allowed at least nine runs in zero games before June 8 (a span of 65 games). In he losses during their 3–9 stretch they have lost five of those games by at least four runs of those games by two runs or less.
In the final game of the series against the Mets, Luis Gil allowed five earned runs with four walks and four hits in 4.1 innings. He has now allowed 12 earned runs in his last two starts after allowing just 18 earned runs in his first 14 starts this season. He had an outstanding 2.03 ERA in his first 14 starts through his start on June 14 against the Red Sox but after allowing seven earned runs on June 20 and five earned runs yesterday his ERA is now all the way up to 3.15.
His 3.15 ERA in 16 starts is still the 12th best in the AL. It seemed like he would start the All-Star Game but that will not happen anymore after how he has pitched in his last two starts. In his second start in June, he allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings after allowing one run or less in each of his previous seven starts.
The bullpen very much needs at least two new additions via trade before the trade deadline. In this game 12–2 loss, the bullpen combined to allow seven earned runs in 3.2 innings and in the first game of the series the bullpen allowed two earned runs. That is a combined nine earned runs by the bullpen in two games. The Yankees lost three games in a row last week from Wednesday to Friday and the bullpen allowed four earned runs in the first game, five earned runs in the second game (one earned run was by the Yankees catcher) and then zero earned runs in 5.1 innings after Carlos Rodon allowed seven earned runs in 3.2 innings.
It’s not good that in the last week the Yankees bullpen has allowed nine earned runs in two games and another nine earned runs in another two-game span. Five of the seven runs that the bullpen allowed yesterday were by Yoendrys Gomez, who was making his third MLB appearance this season and fourth overall after being a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. Gomez, who had a very good 3.13 ERA in 12 starts this season at Triple-A Scranton, did not allow a run in 5.2 innings in his first two MLB games this season but then did not have his command at all leading him to allow five runs with two homers against the Mets. He has good swing and miss stuff since he had 54 strikeouts in 54 innings at Triple-A this season after having 78 strikeouts in 65.1 innings at Double-A last season.
The Yankees are in by far their worst stretch of the season in their last 12 games. The Yankees have lost six of their last seven games. They only had one three-game losing streak in their first 75 games this season before this seven-game stretch. It proves how great the Yankees have been for most of the season since they only lost three of their first 22 series.
The Yankees will now face the Blue Jays in Toronto, who are having a worse season than many expected them to have. Toronto is seven games below .500 at 36–43 and in last place in the AL East after finishing last season 16 games above .500 at 89–73 and in third place in the AL East and with the third and final wild card spot. They had a +75 run differential last season but this season they have a -46 run differential.
Toronto is one game below .500 at home this season but six games below .500 on the road this season. They are just 4–10 in their last 14 games. Toronto is 11th out of 15 teams in ERA in the AL, they are 14th out of 15 in opponent batting average in the AL, they are 13 out of 15 in strikeouts and they have allowed the second most homers in the AL. It is important that the Yankees bounce back and win three out of the four games in this series in Toronto.
