There are plenty of baseball games where you can pinpoint an individual moment to being what the result hinges on. There are others where things just always feel destined for a loss. Despite a close final score, Monday’s game against the Tigers felt like one of the latter for the Yankees.
On the mound, Gerrit Cole did not have the best of days. He lasted just 4.1 innings, having given up five runs on nine hits and a walk. Some iffy defense made things a bit worse than they should’ve been, but still, when your star former Cy Young pitcher has a sloppy day, things are always going to be tough.
That’s doubly so when the offense remains in a bit of a slump. Facing Framber Valdez, the Yankees managed just one run on four hits, striking out eight times. They made a bit of a late charge to make things a bit interesting, but they didn’t do nearly enough. Add in a couple errors on defense, and not much went in the Yankees’ favor as they fell 5-3 to the Tigers on Monday night.
The Yankees struck first, picking up a run in the second inning. With two outs in the inning, José Caballero worked a walk to keep the inning alive, and then stole second base. That put him in position to score when Ali Sánchez doubled.
However, the Tigers got that run back and more a little while later. Zach McKinstry led off the bottom of the third with a triple, after he managed to split the outfielders in deep left-center field. That allowed him to come home when Kevin McGonigle grounded out. While Cole followed that ground out by getting the second out of the inning, he had trouble getting the third, allowing a Kerry Carpenter single and a Riley Greene walk. Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith then both added RBI singles to give the Tigers a lead.
Detroit picked up another run off Cole in the fourth inning. Following a lead-off single and a delay caused by a Comerica Park dirt cam, McGonigle doubled home another run to increase the Tigers’ edge. Detroit then got Cole for one more run when Greene homered in the fifth. Cole ended up departing a few batters later, ending a day where he was far from his sharpest.
Valdez kept the Yankees off the board for the next little while, but they eventually managed to get something going against him. In the top of the seventh, Sánchez reached base again, albeit painfully, as he was hit by a pitch that knocked him out of the game. However, getting that runner on base proved helpful as Amed Rosario then hit a two-run homer to get the Yankees back in striking distance.
The Yankees had a chance to further eat away at their deficit, putting a couple runners on in the eighth. They didn’t take advantage of that though, and that ended up being curtains. The offense then went down in order in the ninth, dooming the Yankees to a defeat in the opener.
With the Yankees looking to bounce back and snap a three-game losing streak, they and the Tigers will continue their series tomorrow at 6:40 pm ET. Carlos Rodón will go for the Yankees, opposite Casey Mize for Detroit.
