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Yankees Failed Opportunity: ALDS Tied

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It wasn’t just Carlos Rodon and his failure to provide the Yankees with innings. And it wasn’t just Rodon giving up a career fourth home run to the Royals’ Salvador Perez that failed to give the Yankees a 2-1 AL Division Series lead Monday evening in the Bronx.

It was the Yankees failure to score runs and leave runners on base that contributed to a 4-2 loss Monday night in the Bronx. Over 48,034 fans, possibly the loudest since the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, also went home asking questions.

Rodon (3 and 2/3 innings, four runs, seven hits) had an auspicious start striking out the side in the first. He was electric and feeling those emotions of a Yankee Stadium crowd, growling and animated on the mound. And then that fourth inning, Perez with the game-tying home run to left field, Rodon’s nemesis who hit a career fourth long ball against the left hander off a 2-2 slider.

From there it was all Royals as the Yankees let numerous opportunities go down the drain. The narrative has changed because the best-of-five series moves to Kansas City Wednesday evening and the Royals have home field advantage the next two games.

But for some reason, as the Yankees have become accustomed to doing, Aaron Judge and the lineup failed to take command in another postseason game. They hope to sweep two in Kansas City or at least force a decisive game 5 in the Bronx Saturday night in the Bronx.

But the stats do reflect why the Yankees have not taken control of this series and why they lost Game 2:

Failure to string hits together in the lineup. First inning of the second straight game, they failed to cash in with two runners on. Royals starter Cole Ragans struggled to find the strike zone in the first, but he struck out Judge, Austin Wells goes down on strikes, and Giancarlo Stanton grounds out to end the inning.

That was the beginning of what was to come. Two games and the Yankees have stranded 19 runners on base, 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position. Two home runs in the series and Judge, the Major League home run leader, with none.

Yes, Judge is bound to break his horrendous postgame series streak of nothing, (1-for-7, 4 strikeouts) in two games. And Juan Soto, the other catalyst to their lineup (0-3, 2 strikeouts) have not resembled the hitters that provided the Yankees a potent two and three in their lineup.

But the remainder of this Yankees lineup has to produce, or this series could be over in Kansas City. Then again, the Yankees have been here this season and battled back. Judge can quickly change the complexion and so can Soto, but in a short series they could be running out of time. And the bottom of their lineup needs to produce.

“They’ve made their pitches when they need to,” Judge said. “We got a couple of guys on in scoring position and then they buckled down and made some tough pitches on us. We’ve got to come through in those situations and break it open.”

And the Yankees will need to come through Wednesday evening and it will be tough. Royals’ Seth Lugo, (16-9, 3.00) potential AL CY Young Award candidate gets the start. Last time in the Bronx in early September, he threw seven innings of shutout ball, striking out 10, while giving up three hits in a 5-0 win.

So the Yankees know their task. Their lack of timely hitting (1-for-6 with runners in scoring position) gave the Royals an opportunity. But to do that they need production all-around. And they need to get length from right-hander Clarke Schmidt Wednesday evening in his first postseason start. Seven relievers followed Rodon, so manager Aaron Boone knows they are taxed and need to step up.

If not, the Yankees will be put in that position of being eliminated from another postseason series.

“It still feels the same,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr. who hit a ninth inning home run that provided some encouragement for a Yankees comeback. “I don’t feel like anybody feels any different. We’re going to go out there and do our thing. We had a lot of missed opportunities tonight, so they just got lucky.”

Lucky, is not the word here and not what fans want to hear. Fortunate though because there was contact and a couple of at-bats could have gone their way. Chisholm and his home run was the only Yankee to pass second base since the third inning.

The Royals were better and the Yankees knew they lost a good opportunity to take a 2-1 series advantage. “That’s playoff baseball,” said manager Aaron Boone. “The heat is turned up and you’ve got to be able to slow things down.”

Said Soto about Judge “You can never count him out. He’s the greatest hitter of all-time right now. He’s just doing his thing. He struggled a little bit with the fastball today, but I know he’s going to bounce back.”

And bounce back the Yankees will need to do. Judge said “We play nine innings. We’d like to get in there in the first and give your team the lead, but we haven’t been able to come through. We’ll do it next time.”

Regardless, the next time is a must win. If not, the Yankees will be in that position of facing another postseason elimination game, in jeopardy of not winning another AL pennant and denied a World Series that has eluded them since 2009. A team with the best American League record and home field advantage confronts the obvious.

The next two games are not home field advantage. The Astros are not the team to bypass here. It’s the Royals in a city known as Kansas City.

Rich Mancuso: X (Twitter) @Ring 786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

About the Author

Rich Mancuso

Rich Mancuso is a regular contributor at NY Sports Day, covering countless New York Mets, Yankees, and MLB teams along with some of the greatest boxing matches over the years. He is an award winning sports journalist and previously worked for The Associated Press, New York Daily News, Gannett, and BoxingInsider.com, in a career that spans almost 40 years.


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