Williams melts down again as the Yankees drop another in Texas

Texas—The Yankees dropped their fifth straight game and got shut out for the second time in that stretch, losing 2-0 to the Rangers. Will Warren got the start for the Yankees, facing off against Nathan Eovaldi.

In the top of the first inning, Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, and Aaron Judge, in his return from the IL, went down in order for the Yankees. 

Warren worked around a two-out double in the bottom of the first inning and picked up his first two strikeouts of the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Warren worked out of a first and second jam with nobody out and recorded his third punchout of the ballgame. 

With two outs in the top of the third on what looked like an easy single to left field from Anthony Volpe, he legged out a hustle double, but Grisham grounded out to strand Volpe. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Warren served up a leadoff double but picked up a groundout, popout, and strikeout to work into and out of trouble.

Warren worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth inning and picked up his fifth strikeout of the night to put together a scoreless frame. 

Camilo Doval replaced Warren in the bottom of the sixth inning and gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. However, a huge 6-3 double play from Volpe helped Doval work out of trouble as the Rangers are now 0-for-12 with RISP tonight through six innings. 

Will Warren's final line: five innings pitched, three hits allowed, zero earned runs, three walks, 10 swings and misses, and five strikeouts on 98 pitches. Warren relied heavily on his fastball, throwing it 54% of the time, the sinker 19%, the sweeper 13%, the changeup 8%, and the curveball 5% of the time. Warren was really solid tonight, working around trouble for the majority of the night, but did a great job keeping the Rangers off the scoreboard. 

"Yeah, just trusting in what I got, trusting my strengths against whoever I was facing, and trusting the guys behind me to make a play when I need them to," Warren said. "I think you saw the 2-0, 3-1, 3-0, like throwing fastballs. I felt like I was feeding them in there, but I was mainly just confident in the guys behind me." 

Eovaldi retired Rice, Judge, and Cody Bellinger in order in the top of the seventh, as Eovaldi has shut down the Yankees tonight. 

"Just uses all his pitches, works all parts of the zone, does a good job, throwing, strike to ball, pitches," Judge said on Eovaldi. "So you really have to be disciplined when you're facing a guy like that. So, you know, he made some pitches, made some tough pitches against us, kept us off the bases for quite a bit, and just couldn't really get anything going against him."

Luke Weaver took over for Doval in the bottom of the seventh inning and recorded a pair of strikeouts to work a scoreless inning. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, and Jason Dominguez went down in order against Eovaldi in the top of the eighth inning. 

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Devin Williams came in to replace Weaver and served up a one-out double. Followed by back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out. The next batter Rowdy Tellez delivered a back-breaking two-run single to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.  Williams has now given up 26 earned runs this year, the same amount as he did in the last three years with the Brewers. Mark Leiter Jr., who was activated from the IL earlier today, replaced Williams and picked up the final out of the inning. 

"I mean, I don't really know what to say at this point," Williams said on his struggles. "You just continue to work and keep trying to execute and help the team any way I can." 

"Well, I mean, we've got to piece it together there," Aaron Boone said on the decision to go to Williams. "Once Will goes five, we're set up there. So, I liked him in the middle with a handful of those righties. And obviously, just couldn't finish it off." 

Ryan McMahon led off the top of the ninth inning with a single to right field, just the Yankees' second hit of the night. However, the pinch-hitting Giancorlo Stanton grounded into a double play, followed by a Grisham strikeout to end this one 2-0 as the Rangers are now just a half game back from the Yankees for that final wild card spot. 

The Yankees will look to avoid being swept and their third six-game losing streak of the year tomorrow. Carlos Rodon will get the starting nod for the Yankees and face off against Jack Leiter. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:35 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Warren was solid tonight, but was playing with fire all night long, working around base runners in every inning. The offense did basically nothing tonight, with only two hits and getting shut out. I have no idea what Boone was thinking putting Williams in that game. Boone has to go; he couldn't manage a McDonald's, let alone the god damn New York Yankees. This team can't put together a complete game right now. When the pitching is good, the offense does nothing, and when the offense is good, the pitching is abysmal. Williams clearly can’t handle the Bronx. There is zero reason he should pitch in another high-leverage situation this year if the Yankees actually want to make the playoffs. On to tomorrow, just another crazy, frustrating loss. The Yankees have to win tomorrow or else they will officially be on the outside looking in of a playoff spot after once having a seven-game lead in the AL East and a 98% chance to make the playoffs.