Carlos Rodón pitched six innings and allowed two runs, but the New York Yankees’ bullpen struggled for the second straight game in an 11-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. Relievers Camilo Doval, Tim Hill, and Luke Weaver each gave up late home runs, continuing a difficult stretch for the team.
“We’ve played good teams,” said catcher Austin Wells, who hit a home run in the loss. “You can’t get away with as many mistakes against teams like that. I definitely think they’ve made some good swings on some good pitches, and also we’ve put ourselves in holes.”
The Yankees have been outscored 23-3 so far in this series against Detroit. This marks the first time New York’s relievers have given up at least nine earned runs in back-to-back games. It is also only the third time in club history that they have lost consecutive games by ten or more runs.
“These last two nights have obviously been rough,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Earlier this month, the Yankees were confident about their bullpen’s strength heading into October. Fernando Cruz described it as “scary” and said, “I don’t think there’s a bullpen better than us. If you put the names together, it’s impossible.” Despite recent struggles, Boone still expressed confidence in his relievers’ abilities: “I have a lot of confidence in their ability and their stuff, but we’ve got to bring it together. We haven’t done that consistently enough yet. Can we do it? That’s what we’re going to find out, and that’s what we’re going to need to do if we’re going to make a big run at this.”
The Yankees are currently navigating a challenging stretch of 12 games against playoff contenders. After winning series against Houston and Toronto, they have not managed to close out games against Detroit.
On Wednesday, Jack Flaherty limited New York to two hits over five innings before Gleyber Torres drove in a run charged to Mark Leiter Jr., contributing three RBIs for Detroit. The Tigers scored five runs in the eighth inning with home runs from Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter.
Torres received applause during Tuesday’s opener but was met with less enthusiasm on Wednesday after getting key hits off Rodón with bases loaded.
Yankees relievers have allowed 18 earned runs and 18 hits over six innings through two games of this series, walking six batters and allowing three home runs.
“They seem to swing the bat pretty well at the end of the game,” Rodón said.
New York’s bullpen ERA now stands at 4.54—24th among MLB teams—with only non-playoff teams ranking lower.
In July, New York acquired David Bednar and Camilo Doval as part of efforts to improve relief pitching; however, Doval has posted a 6.59 ERA over 13 2/3 innings since joining the team.
“It’s a mixed bag,” Boone said regarding Doval’s performance. “He flashes that swing and miss with the slider. Obviously it’s a big arm with the cutter and the sinker. The strike-throwing hasn’t been great, and that’s hurt him in some outings.”
Position player Austin Slater was called upon to pitch scorelessly on Wednesday; his slowest pitch registered at 36.4 mph—the slowest by any Yankee tracked by Statcast.
Wells commented on Slater’s outing: “I just kind of let him do his deal.”
