Bullpen implodes as Yankees drop opener to Phillies, 12-5

New York—The Yankees drop an ugly one, 12-5, in the opener of this three-game set to the Phillies, as the bullpen didn't get it done. Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Taijuan Walker for the Phillies. 

In the top of the first inning, Warren worked around a one-out walk to put together a scoreless frame and picked up his first strikeout of the ballgame in the process. 

Cody Bellinger got the scoring started in the bottom half of the first inning, launching his 19th home run of the season into the second deck in right field to quickly give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

Warren worked into and out of trouble in the top half of the second inning, picking up a pair of strikeouts to strand runners on first and second. 

With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Austin Wells crushed his 15th home run of the season into the second deck in right field to make it a 2-0 game. 

The Phillies evened things up at 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning as Kyle Schwarber crushed as two-run bomb his 35th home run of the season and his 1,000th career hit. 

Warren picked up the first two outs of the top of the sixth and picked up his seventh strikeout of the ballgame. Tim Hill then replaced Warren on the mound and picked up a strikeout to end the frame. 

Will Warren's final line: 5.2 innings pitched, five hits allowed, two earned runs, three walks, 11 swings and misses, and seven strikeouts on 89 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 44% of the time, the sinker 24%, the sweeper 21%, the curveball 6%, and the changeup 6% of the time. Warren was great tonight, putting the Yankees in a solid spot to win against a very solid Phillies lineup, but unfortunately, the bullpen couldn't get it done. 

"Overall, I think it was good," Warren said. "Good bounce back after a not-so-good one in Atlanta. So yeah, I thought, you know, got ahead in a count, went deep into the game and, you know, gave us a chance to win."

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Giancorlo Stanton stayed red hot, crushing his sixth home run of the season to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. 

Hill remained in the game for the top of the seventh inning and gave up back-to-back singles followed by a ground out, allowing two runners to move into scoring position. Luke Weaver was called upon to replace Hill with runners on second and third. A groudball to Paul Goldschmidt at first base and a questionable throw home allowed a run to score that probably would have scored even with a perfect throw, making it a 3-3 game. The next batter, J.T. Realmuto, delivered the knockout punch with a three-run home run to give the Phillies a 6-3 lead. 

"Too aggressive of a play by me to try to make a play where they were going to be safe anyway. That was a mistake. I should've just took the out at first," Goldy said. 

The Yankees quickly responded as Anthony Volpe, on his bobble head night, crushed his fourth home run in the last week since the All-Star break and his 14th of the year to make it a 6-4 game. Ben Rice then blooped a single just out of the reach of the Phillies' third basemen. Rice then moved up to second on a balk from Jordan Romano. Rice moved up to third on a groundout from Grisham. The next batter, Aaron Judge, drove in Rice via a sac fly to make it a 6-5 game. 

Ian Hamilton replaced Weaver in the top of the eighth inning and picked up the first two outs of the inning. The walked a batter, which came back to bite him, allowing Schwarber to bat and he crushed a two-run bomb, his second home run of the night, to make it an 8-5 game. 

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Goldy Knocks lined a single to right field, but that would be all for the Yankees as they went down scoreless. 

Scott Effross took over for Hamilton on the mound in the top of the ninth inning and immediately served up a double in the right-center gap. Edmundo Sosa then picked up an RBI single to make it a 9-5 game. Bryson Stott then ripped a two-run double in the right field corner to put this game out of reach, making it an 11-5 game. The next batter, Trea Turner, picked up his fourth hit of the night, an RBI triple, making it a 12-5 game, as the bullpen completely unraveled tonight, giving up 10 runs in the last three innings in this ballgame.   

The Yankees went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning to end this one 12-5. 

The Yankees will look to bounce back tomorrow with Marcus Stroman on the mound, facing off against Ranger Suárez for the Phillies. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: The bullpen completely blew any chance the Yankees ever had of winning this game, giving up 10 runs in the last three innings, and all five pitchers the Yankees used tonight gave up at least two runs. Cashman needs to trade for a lockdown reliever ASAP. Warren was great tonight, holding the Phillies to just two runs. The offense looked good tonight as Volpe, Belli, Wells, and Big-G all launched home runs. However, it's hard to win when the opposing team scores 12 runs. Also, earlier today, the Yankees acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Rockies. I’m really excited about the move. Read my write-up on that for more details. Also, I apologize for not being able to upload the recaps on Reddit for the last two games in Toronto. My account was suspended for some reason, and I'm still not entirely sure why. However, you can check out my website if you'd like to read those recaps. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees will look to bounce back, the Yankees need bullpen help in the worst way. 

"Yeah, I mean, you know, those guys have been worked hard, obviously," Aaron Boone said on the state of the bullpen. "You know, Devin's really throwing the ball well. I feel like Weave is, too, and Hill, And Hamilton been, you know, up and down a little bit. We've seen some good from him. But again, like, getting him into some tough situations where he's facing some hitters in situations where it's tough just because we're a little short, we've got to get Loáisiga going. So it's a challenge right now, but we've got to have guys step up."