Rodon battles, but errors and a lack of offense doom the Yankees in a crucial division clash

Toronto—The Yankees lose a frustrating one, 4-1, to the Blue Jays due to some sloppy defense in the fifth and a lack of offense.  Carlos Rodon got the starting nod for the Yanks and faced off against Kevin Gausman for the Jays. 

In the top of the first inning, Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. went down in order for the Yankees.

Rodon worked an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning on just seven pitches. 

Paul Goldschmidt legged out an infield single with two outs in the top of the second inning, but Austin Wells lined out sharply to third base to end the frame. 

In the bottom half of the second inning, Rodon served up a double and walked two batters to load the bases but picked up a groundout to help work into and out of trouble. 

Grisham ripped a two-out double into the right field corner in the top of the third inning, and Judge was intentionally walked. However, Jazz went down on strikes to strand two runners on base. 

In the top of the fourth inning Giancarlo Stanton got the scoring started for the Yankees launching his fifth home run of the season to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. 

Rodon loaded the bases yet again in the bottom of the fourth via a leadoff double, as well as a two-out walk and single, but stranded the bases loaded. 

Rodon walked his fifth batter of the game to lead off the bottom of the fifth, followed by a single. The next batter, Bo Bichette, crushed a two-run double into the right field corner to give the Jays a 2-1 lead. Rodon then won a 14-pitch battle against Davis Shinder, finally getting him to pop out. It then looked like Rodon was out of the inning, but a costly throwing error from Oswald Peraza allowed another run to come in, making it a 3-1 game. 

"That play felt like I rushed through the sequence of defending that ball," Peraza said. "I noticed that the runner was running very well towards first base. So positioning there wasn't the best. And it cost us. Rodón was pitching a good game there. And yeah, that's a play I got to make there." 

Once again, it looked like the Yankees were out of the inning, but another throwing error, this time from Anthony Volpe, allowed another run to score to make it a 4-1 game.

"I just rushed the throw, pulled it, and gave Goldy a tough pick to handle," Volpe said. Yeah, I mean, you said it, anytime you get a ball hit to you, you expect it to be an out. So when that doesn't happen, it's frustrating." 

A frustrated Rodon tried to pump up the Yankees' dugout before the top of the sixth inning after an inning where he had to throw 40 pitches due to the errors. However, that wasn't enough as the Yankees went down scoreless in the top of the sixth inning. 

Scott Effross took over for Rodon in the top of the sixth inning and worked around a two-out walk to put together a scoreless inning. 

Carlos Rodon's final line: five innings pitched, six hits allowed, four runs, but only two earned runs due to the errors, five walks, seven swings and misses, and four strikeouts on 107 pitches. Rodon relied heavily on his fastball, throwing it 50% of the time, the changeup 25%, the slider 17%, and the sinker 7% of the time. Rodon didn't have his best command tonight, leading to five walks, but he did a great job of limiting the Jays to what should have been just two runs, but the defense cost him in a big way. 

"They strung together some good at-bats, and they, you know, they were longer at-bats," Rodon said about struggling with his command. "I was trying to make pitches and just wasn't crisp." 

JT Brubaker took over for Effross on the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning and put together a 1-2-3 inning. 

In the top of the eighth inning, Grisham worked a leadoff walk. A couple batters later, Jazz ripped a single to right field to bring the tying run to the plate in Stanton. Staton lined out to center field, and Jasson Dominguez grounded out to strand two runners on base. 

Brubaker remained in the game for the bottom of the eighth inning and retired the Jays in order. 

In the top of the ninth inning, Goldy, Wells, and Ben Rice, who pinch-hit for Volpe, struck out in order to end a frustrating one, 4-1 final, as the Yankees are now four games back from the Jays in the East. 

The Yankees will look to bounce back tomorrow with Cam Schlittler making his second career start, facing off against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Another insanely frustrating loss for the Yankees. It seems like every time the Yankees lose, it's due to a lack of basic baseball fundamentals. Yankees have to be better against AL East opponents if they want to have any chance at winning this division. They are now 10-17 against the AL East this year and have lost five straight to the Jays. Rodon didn't have his best stuff with five walks, but if we had a competent left side of the infield, he would have left us in a great spot to win. Peraza is on this team for one reason and one reason only: to play defense, and he cost us tonight with a massive error in the fifth. Plus, Peraza couldn't hit water if he fell off a boat, now hitting a pathetic .150 with a .454 OPS, and a 26 wRC+ on the season.  Volpe also had a huge error right after Peraza’s error, as Volpe, who was an outstanding defender his first two years, now has an AL-leading 12 errors with a -3 OAA, a -2 FRV, and it seems like his errors are always in big spots. Yankees need a new third baseman at the deadline in the worst way to replace Peraza, and Volpe has to be better. The offense did next to nothing other than Stanton launching his fifth home run of the season. In the biggest game of the year, the Yankees laid an egg; they have to find a way to win tomorrow. 

"As far as trades and things like that," Peraza said about the trade rumors for a third baseman. "You know, it goes back to what I just mentioned, you know. You have to focus on what you're doing on a daily basis. Focus on the things that you can control."