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.
“That was a mistake,” Goldschmidt said. “I should have took the out at first.”
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 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 Friday 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 before being optioned to Triple-A.
After the game, Boone repeatedly said his bullpen is “short” and that navigating games has been a “challenge” with Mark Leiter Jr., Fernando Cruz, Yerry De los Santos and Ryan Yarbrough all on the injured list.
“Bodies, in particular, would be helpful,” pitching coach Matt Blake recently told the Daily News of the Yankees’ bullpen needs, though they would ideally add a lefty among multiple additions.
Boone, meanwhile, said “all lines are in the water right now,” when asked if he’d like the Yankees to trade for relief help.
“All teams, there’s a lot of talk, so you never know what’s going to happen,” he went on to say.
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 4.82 ERA over 22 starts.
“He did his part against a good offense and put us in position to win a game,” Boone said, but another untidy loss has the second-place Yankees sitting at 56-47 on the season.
They’re also 5.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East and own a 14-22 record since June 13.
Asked how the Yankees can snap out of their yearly summer swoon, Wells said, “Keep going.”
“On the pitching side, just get a little tighter with what we’re trying to do,” the catcher continued. “And on the hitter’s side, keep going and working good at-bats and turning the lineup over as much as we can.”
Wells then added, “We’re in a good spot to make a run here, and I think the tides are going to turn,” but that won’t happen without cleaner play and a few new arms.
For now, the Yankees can at least expect some defensive improvement, as they acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Rockies prior to Friday’s game. The stellar defender is expected to make his Yankees debut on Saturday after the team demoted Jorbit Vivas.
“He’s gonna help us,” Goldschmidt said of McMahon.