The New York Yankees suffered a rare and controversial defeat in Baltimore after sending Deivi Garcia to the mound for a spot start.
Under normal circumstances, the New York Yankees go to Baltimore and play on rookie mode.
Camden Yards has always been friendly ground for the Bronx Bombers, who won 18 games in a row there before losing three straight last year. Tonight, a controversial call led to a fourth despite young phenom Deivi Garcia pitching.
Though the Yankees underperformed most of the game, this loss stung badly. Just when a big inning seemed in the works, the umpires sucked the wind out of their sails. Garcia’s rough homecoming was almost salvaged, but to no avail.
Yet, Monday night’s loss just might be the fuse that lights New York’s fire.
Starting pitching
Deivi Garcia is still just 21 years old, but still flashed some of his upside in a 4-2 loss. The Dominican neophyte allowed two runs in four innings, issuing three walks and striking out four.
Here’s what’s interesting: only one of the three walks got Garcia in trouble. The only mistakes he made were a leadoff home run to noted Yankee killer Cedric Mullins and a double to Freddy Galvis following Pedro Severino’s walk. Otherwise, Garcia did a good job inducing soft contact.
Were it not for hitting something of a wall in the fourth inning, Garcia probably could have gone longer. Sadly, we won’t get the chance to see a follow-up start. Per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, he was optioned back to the alternate site after the game.
Offense
For some reason or another, the Yankees couldn’t solve Orioles starter and former New York Mets star Matt Harvey. The onetime Dark Knight of Gotham featured new life on his fastball, sometimes touching 95 mph. Clearly, he spent his offseason with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Shadows.
Harvey shut down the New York Yankees for six innings and allowed just one run on three hits, and the sole run was on an Aaron Judge double in the sixth. Otherwise, the lineup just could not solve him.
Sadly, the story gets worse. The Yankees managed to load the bases in the eighth inning and Gio Urshela stepped up to bat with two out. He laced a single to left field and it appeared two runs scored. However, umpires ruled Judge tagged out at third before DJ LeMahieu scored.
This is where the umps screwed up. Despite not ever looking to the dugout to confirm, they did not allow Aaron Boone to challenge the call. Cut to Boone storming out and getting his first ejection of the season.
Oh, and Judge may have also been safe at third, too. Make no mistake, this foul display cost the New York Yankees the game.
Bullpen
It was a rough night for the New York Yankees’ bullpen, which allowed two runs on five hits in four innings of work. Darren O’Day’s balk made it 3-1 in the sixth, and Justin Wilson served up Mullins’ second home run in the eighth.
The relief corps did manage to not allow a walk, but one thing is certain. The Yankee bullpen is getting tired and starters not named Gerrit Cole need to start stepping up.
Final Thoughts
The New York Yankees have suffered plenty of losses worthy of being a “get angry and win a bunch” game early in 2021. Now that Boone has finally broken out of his shell and been ejected from a game, the time is now for the bats to explode.
Shake the loss off. There’s another game to play.
