Marcus Stroman threw a meatball that the team never fully recovered from.
The right-handed pitcher hit a three-run home run against Jake Berger in the third inning, but the Yankees lost 5-2 to the Marlins on a chilly Wednesday in front of a crowd of 36,295 in the Bronx, hoping to escape even just a little from behind. That’s all I could do. night.
The Yankees had a chance to steal the game in the bottom of the ninth when John Barty reached on an infield hit, Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto walked, and Aaron Judge hit a shot.
But on a night when the Yankees went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, Judge was absent.
The Yankees were unable to complete the series sweep, losing for just the third time in 13 games this season.
A 4-2 homestand concludes with a trip to Cleveland and Toronto beginning on Friday.
Stroman pitched 12 innings this year with zero earned runs. His goal for a perfect season was interrupted by a 33-pitch third inning that nearly ended the night early.
Miami’s Nick Gordon gave up 10 walks before Nick Fortes hit a slow bouncer to right, the area that Gleyber Torres gave up as Gordon tried to steal second base.
The ball flew to the outfield and Luis Arraez hit an RBI homer, the first unearned run he allowed to Stroman in pinstripes.
However, the second, third, and fourth runs came two pitches later when Berger chomped a slider from the center of the bat into the Marlins’ bullpen in left-center field. Strowman bounced back, but the team couldn’t.
The Yankees allowed just six hits and wasted some of the chances they created.
Manager Aaron Boone’s club had chances in the fourth and fifth innings with two runners on each.
However, in the fourth inning, Judge struck out, and in the fifth, Alex Verdugo struck out before Berti struck out.
The Yankees came close to scoring in the 8th inning, when Soto’s double by Volpe made it 4-2.
Anthony Rizzo popped out and put two runners on base before Torres struck out.
The Marlins set up an insurance run in the bottom of the inning when Rizzo was unable to dig out a throw thrown by Volpe, allowing Tim Anderson to score.
The Yankees’ first run came in the sixth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton hit a surefire 393-foot shot to the right of Brian Howing.
This was Stanton’s fourth home run of the season, and his first against the Marlins, with whom he played from 2010 to 2017.
Stanton is currently playing deep against every team in baseball.
Boone himself may have shown the most fight on the team.
The manager was thrown out in the bottom of the seventh inning for claiming Verdugo’s strike.
Home plate umpire John Bacon ruled a pitch that appeared low in the outside corner as a strike, and with the count at 1-2, Verdugo ended up striking out, knocking Verdugo out for the first time this season with a buzzing sound.
Boone was ejected seven times from leading the AL last year.
For those looking for positives, Stroman lacked command and what’s best about him, but he still got through with five innings and seven strikeouts.
After a nasty third inning, Stroman was minimally pinched in the fourth and fifth innings (thanks to Josh Bell’s double play).
On a night that could have been much worse, the Yankees didn’t have to empty their bullpen and were able to get quality work from Luke Weaver, Victor Gonzalez, and Dennis Santana.
