David Lennon: Yankees' futile offense a blip on the radar or something more serious?
Yankees rightfielder Aaron Judge reacts after a strike call in a game against the Athletics on Thursday at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Ed Murray
Circle Thursday probably the last time you’ll see the Yankees lose a game this season in which their starting pitcher goes eight innings and allows one run, as Ryan Weathers did in this head-scratcher of a 1-0 loss to the A’s.
What was harder to believe? That the erratic Weathers, who was allergic to the strike zone in his previous two starts, would be economical (101 pitches) and effective (seven strikeouts, no walks)? Or that the Yankees’ powerful offense (on paper, anyway) could be shut down so completely by A’s lefthander Jeffrey Springs, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Ben Rice’s one-out grounder burrowed through the right side of the infield?
Neither seemed all that likely heading into Thursday’s series finale, but if we had to choose a lasting trend, go with Weathers’ resurgence. He was bound to shake off some opening pinstriped jitters, and his ability to throw “competitive” strikes — in the words of manager Aaron Boone — is something that he should be able to carry forward.
As for the Yankees’ futility at the plate, that’s more difficult to explain, especially in the past two straight losses to the A’s. In 18 innings, they tallied two runs, five hits and 23 strikeouts.
And it actually gets worse. The Yankees were held hitless for 12 consecutive innings after Amed Rosario’s one-out single in the fourth inning Wednesday night. After picking up three hits in the first inning Wednesday, they went 1-for-43 before Rice’s single, wound up 2-for-52 and did not score in 17 innings.
Maybe Springs couldn’t get the legit no-no on his own — he had to settle for seven scoreless innings, six strikeouts and the Rice skipping-stone single — but the A’s staff as a whole put a serious dent in the Yankees’ previously invincible psyche.
“Of course the results haven’t been there for us the last couple games,” Rice said. “But I think we’ll be all right. I think the quality of at-bats is still there. Just got to keep rolling.”
Rice has nothing to apologize for. He’s one of the very few members of the Yankees’ lineup above reproach. He not only delivered the only hit Thursday but has reached base safely in 10 of his 11 games this season, batting .324 (12-for-37) with three homers, 11 walks, 11 RBIs and a 1.155 OPS.
Boone raised some eyebrows when he chose to go with Rice over Paul Goldschmidt against Springs, but he repeated his intention to stick with his promising young slugger more against lefties (see the above numbers). Also, Boone felt that Springs’ arsenal — using the fastball inside to righties with the devastating changeup — made for a better matchup with some of his lefthanded hitters.
Turns out, it didn’t matter much either way. Springs kept everyone off balance with a fastball that averaged 91 mph, an 83-mph slider, a 79-mph changeup and a 76-mph sweeper. Rice described his single as a “seeing-eye ground ball” (it still had a 96.5-mph exit velo), and the rest of the Yankees never came close to sniffing a hit the entire game.
Their other chance came with two outs in the fifth, when Jose Caballero hooked a slider deep to left, where Tyler Soderstrom initially appeared to lose the ball in the sun. But as Soderstrom scrambled back, he found it at the warning track just in time to reach up for the catch.
That how bad it was. The Yankees had to search the heavens for help.
Their three-time MVP doesn’t seem capable of carrying them at the moment. Aaron Judge looked powerless against the soft-throwing Springs, and when he did make contact, it barely broke the speed limit. Judge went 0-for-4, dropping him to .222 (10-for-45), and his 15 strikeouts are tied for the team lead with Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Judge’s worst moment came in the third inning, the first of only two times all game the Yankees had a runner reach second base. After Caballero reached on an error and Rosario walked, Judge was baffled and swung through two 92-mph fastballs before fouling off a third, then taking an 80-mph changeup dotted on the bottom outside corner of the plate.
It was a perfect pitch by Springs. Statcast showed it barely nicked the box, and Judge likely would have lost an ABS challenge. And on those rare occasions when he comes up short, the Yankees often follow suit.
Thursday’s lineup included Austin Wells (who fell to .167), Caballero (.135) and Ryan McMahon (.069). We know. It’s early. But a sizable chunk of Yankees have come off as automatic outs lately, and we didn’t even count the .186-hitting Chisholm, who went in as a pinch runner in the seventh.
The Yankees’ four losses, all of which have been by one run, include 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 decisions.
“Look, we got shut down today,” Boone said. “The previous games where we’ve struggled scoring, I feel like we were getting the traffic, we were having quality at-bats. Today was the day we got beat . . . we didn’t hit balls on the screws at all.
“We’ll get this thing going.”
On the plus side, maybe Weathers is fixed. But the Yankees needed a functioning bat or two Thursday, and they’ll get another lefty Friday night in former Ward Melville star Steven Matz, now with the Rays. That’s when they’ll find out if Thursday’s glitch actually is something to be concerned about.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
