Yankees reliever Luke Weaver continues to struggle, giving up go-ahead homer
Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt during a game against the Athletics at Yankees Stadium on June 28, 2025. Credit: Ed Murray
Plenty of fingers could be pointed throughout this prolonged Yankees slide.
Friday afternoon’s 6-5 loss to the Mets at Citi Field extended the Yankees’ losing streak to five, part of a stretch in which they have lost 15 of 21 games.
Shouldering the blame this time around was Luke Weaver, who has struggled since coming off the injured list on June 20.
With the Yankees (48-40) clinging to a 5-4 lead, two outs and none on in the bottom of the seventh, Weaver entered to face Pete Alonso. After falling behind 3-and-1, he walked him on six pitches.
Weaver also fell behind Jeff McNeil 3-and-1 before throwing a full-count, down-and-in, 87.8-mph changeup. McNeil lifted it into the second deck in rightfield to give the Mets (51-38) a 6-5 lead in what became the Yankees’ 18th one-run loss of the season.
“I think at this point I’ve got two options,” said Weaver, who threw 15 pitches in one-third of an inning after tossing 21 in Thursday’s 8-5 loss to the Blue Jays. “I can sulk and feel bad for myself, or I can foundationally grind and find a way to just be flat-out better. Flat-out better for myself, for my teammates and for this team in general, for the fans.
“I don’t want to be too hard on myself, but at the end of the day, I mean, what else is there? I mean, I have to be able to process it and competitively, it’s just devastating.”
When Weaver (1-3, 3.19 ERA) went on the 15-day IL with a left hamstring strain in early June, he had a 1.05 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. The initial timeline for the righthander was four to six weeks, and he returned in fewer than three.
Weaver said everything feels right physically, but since coming off the IL, he has allowed eight earned runs and eight hits, including four home runs, in 5 1/3 innings.
Weaver has allowed home runs in three straight outings, the previous two a grand slam and a two-run shot by Blue Jays outfielder George Springer with the Yankees in one-run deficits earlier this week.
“Just that last bit of execution, which is the fine line between being dominant and giving up some damage,” Aaron Boone said of what he has seen from Weaver. “So I feel like, physically, he’s in a really good place. The stuff is there. It’s just that fine line. That’s a big difference-maker. Fully trusting him to get through that, and he’s got the makeup to handle this. He’s been through a lot in his career as far as dealing with successes and failures. And because the stuff is where it needs to be, I think — I think he’ll get through that.”
Friday’s bad news started in the morning, when the Yankees placed Clarke Schmidt on the 15-day IL with right forearm tightness. Schmidt was scheduled for an MRI on Friday, but Boone had no update after the game.
Anthony Volpe went 0-for-3 to fall to 8-for-66 (.121) in his last 19 games. Pete Alonso’s 108.3-mph RBI single that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead in the third deflected off Volpe’s glove as he tried to backhand it.
Trent Grisham pinch hit for Volpe to lead off the ninth and lined out to left.
“The competitor in you wants to be out there, wants to help the team and feel like you can,” Volpe said. “But those things aren’t in my control. What is is just put in the work and earning those at-bats, earning every at-bat.”
Friday’s positives? Aaron Judge went 2-for-4 with his 32nd homer, a solo shot in the first inning, and Cody Bellinger hit a solo homer to tie the score at 3 in the fourth. Marcus Stroman allowed three runs in five innings and exited with a 5-3 lead.
But perhaps most notable is the continued production of Friday’s leadoff hitter, Jasson Dominguez, who has played like a star of late. He went 2-for-4 with two home runs: a first-inning leadoff shot that immediately preceded Judge’s homer and a two-run blast in the fifth that gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead. Both went to the opposite field, the first to left-center and the second down the leftfield line.
With two outs in the ninth and Judge looming in the on-deck circle representing the potential go-ahead run, Dominguez got ahead 3-and-1 against Reed Garrett before pulling a down-and-away splitter that was out of the strike zone and grounding to second for the final out.
Dominguez, who was coming off a four-hit game on Thursday and hit his first homers since May 21, is batting .450 in his last 10 games (18-for-40) and has a case to stick atop the order.
“It’s possible,” Boone said. “Love his at-bats right now. Obviously, he’s getting massive results, hitting the ball incredibly hard the last several days, especially the last two days here. So that’s really good to see, so we’ll see.”
Notes & quotes: Luis Gil (right lat strain) is set for either a live batting practice or the start of his rehab assignment in the range of 45 to 50 pitches on Tuesday or Wednesday . . . Ryan Yarbrough (right oblique strain) is not throwing yet . . . With Schmidt on the IL, the Yankees will need to call up a starter. Boone said righthander Cam Schlittler, the Yankees’ No. 10 prospect according to MLB.com, has “certainly put himself in the mix.” . . . The Yankees recalled two relievers — righty Scott Effross and lefthander Jayvien Sandridge — and optioned righthander Clayton Beeter to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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