Things will be different today, right? It was the same old story for the New York Yankees as they lose their second straight to the Tigers.
- Detroit Tigers: 2
- New York Yankees: 1
- Winning Pitcher: Buck Farmer (1-0)
- Losing Pitcher: Chad Green (0-1)
- Save: Shane Greene (4)
- AL, FINAL, Boxscore
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Sending Jonathan Loaisiga to the mound to try and tame the Tigers, he made it look easy in the first. Retiring the Tigers 1-2-3, he struck out both Josh Harrison and the dangerous Miguel Cabrera.
Despite the strong start, the New York Yankees couldn’t get anything going against Matthew Boyd. Boyd struck out leadoff man DJ LeMahieu before getting Aaron Judge and Luke Voit to both line out in what would serve as a career afternoon for him.
The first run of the game came in the bottom of the third inning, with Aaron Judge smacking an RBI single to score LeMahieu. The threat for a big inning was cut short after a very peculiar play.
Aaron Judge no-stride RBI single and the Yanks have a lead pic.twitter.com/3euD8D6gCC
— David Mendelsohn (@BigBabyDavid_) April 3, 2019
With Aaron Judge on second and Gary Sanchez on first with two outs in the third, Gleyber Torres slapped his own single. However, the ball hit Judge who was heading for third, making the third out in the inning.
Unfortunate incident aside, the Tigers answered right back when Christin Stewart hit a sacrifice fly to right to plate Nick Castellanos to tie the game at one. Of course, Aaron Judge made the play close but the run still counted against the Bombers.
From there, the Tigers lulled the Yankees and their fans into a false sense of security only to snatch it back in an instant.
In the top of the eighth inning, Chad Green emerged for his second inning of work only to be greeted abruptly by a Gordon Beckham home run to right. Beckham took a hanging 1-0 fastball and launched it to right to make Green pay and give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
But do the Yankees have a rally in their bones? After Luke Voit led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a four-pitch walk, Gary Sanchez struck out on a 95-MPH heater inside. Gleyber Torres followed up with his own strikeout and with two outs, Aaron Boone decides to put in pinch-runner Brett Gardner.
And Gardner got promptly thrown out attempting to steal second to end the threat.
Here comes the bottom of the ninth. Will this be the day the Yankees get their first walk-off shot of the 2019 season?
The answer is: No. With Greg Bird leading off the inning being robbed by Josh Harrison, we all knew how the rest of the inning would go. A Clint Frazier strikeout and a Tyler Wade groundout would seal the deal and the victory for the Detroit Tigers.
The Judge Rules An Out!
The first home run for Aaron Judge has yet to arrive. However, he’s getting the job done in other ways, specifically on defense.
With Judge’s game-saving, diving catch on Monday, he stayed on his feet this time, robbing the Tigers of a double to get the third inning started.
Aaron Judge with another CLUTCH catch at the wall in right field! ?
Watch LIVE: https://t.co/zSWAd0HagG pic.twitter.com/MaZz6zQjIR
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 3, 2019
This is yet another example of how Aaron Judge might just be gunning for his first Gold Glove award. While he fell short last season to Mookie Betts, he’s already making stellar plays and we’re just six games into the season.
But that’s not all. Aaron Judge’s arm is in mid-season form as well, as Judge launched an almost perfect throw home to try and nab Nick Castellanos on a tag attempt. While Castellanos smartly maneuvered around the tag, Judge’s throw still had the Stadium picking up their jaws from the floor.
Here we go again …
The injury bug has reared its ugly head once again. This time, his victim was someone who is used to being on the IL back when it was a few letters back in the alphabet.
Troy Tulowitzki was taken out of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with what was later diagnosed as a left calf strain. Tulo was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital for further testing and to bring more worry to the Yankees.
This is just Tulo’s fifth regular season game since missing all of last year and it doesn’t look good. But in all reality, how long were fans expecting him to be fully healthy?
The problem is, the Yankees have but one infielder left on the 40-man roster to bring up in Thairo Estrada. Does that mean a trade might be brewing soon? Get on the phone now, Cashman.
What’s Next:
The New York Yankees will travel to Baltimore to take on the red-hot (yes, it’s true) Baltimore Orioles for their home-opening series.
The 4-1 Orioles will send righty Alex Cobb to the mound. While he has yet to record a win or loss on the season, Cobb went 5-15 in 2018 with a 4.90 ERA.
The Yankees will counter with James Paxton who put together a stellar Yankees debut only to come away with the loss. Paxton is 0-1 on the season with a 1.59 ERA.
