Yankees bullpen meltdown leads to second straight blowout loss

The Yankees' bullpen imploded for the second straight night, leading to an embarrassing 11-1 loss to the Tigers. Carlos Rodon got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Jack Flaherty, who has struggled this year, but the Yankees' offense tonight made him look like prime Roger Clemens. 

Rodon worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the first inning and recorded his first strikeout of the ballgame. 

Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the first inning with a shapely hit single to right field. Grisham then moved up to second base on a wild pitch, but Aaron Judge struck out due to a brutal strike call, Cody Bellinger struck out, and Ben Rice flew out to strand Grisham at second. 

In the bottom of the third inning, Ryan McMahon legged out a hustle double, and Grisham followed that up with a walk. However, Judge bounced into a double play to end the inning. 

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Rodon served up a single, walked a batter, and hit a batter to load the bases. A couple of batters later, Rodon surrendered a two-run single to former Yankee Gleyber Torres to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. 

Rodon worked a scoreless top of the sixth inning and picked up his sixth strikeout of the night in the process. 

Amed Rosario, who pinch hit for McMahon, led off the bottom of the sixth with a single up the middle. However, Judge grounded into his second double play of the night to end the inning. 

Mark Leiter Jr. replaced Rodon in the top of the seventh inning and instantly gave up back-to-back singles, then a wild pitch got lodged under Austin Wells ' catcher's gear, and both runners moved into scoring position. Leiter picked up a strikeout, then Camilo Doval replaced Leiter and gave up an RBI groundout to Torres, making it a 3-0 game. 

Carlos Rodon's final line: Six innings pitched, five hits allowed, two earned runs, one walk, 10 swings and misses, and six strikeouts on 102 pitches. Rodon threw his fastball 43% of the time, the slider 23%, the changeup 22%, the sinker 12%, and the curveball 1% of the time. Rodon was really solid tonight, putting together another quality start to improve his ERA to 3.11 on the season. Unfortunately, he got no run support tonight. 

Doval remained in the game for the top of the eighth inning and gave up a leadoff single followed by a two-run home run to Riley Greene to make it a 5-0 game. Doval then gave up a double; the runner moved up to third on an E8 from Belli. Tim Hill took over for Doval and immediately gave up an RBI single to Parker Meadows, making it a 6-0 game. A couple of batters later, Kerry Carpenter crushed a two-run home run to make it 8-0, as the Yankees' bullpen melted down for the second straight night.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Austin Wells launches a solo shot, his 21st home run of the season, to make it an 8-1 game. 

Luke Weaver came in to replace Hill on the mound in the top of the eighth and gave up back-to-back singles. A sacrifice fly from Greene made it a 9-1 game. The next batter, Colt Keith, hit a two-run home run into he short porch in right field to make it an 11-1 game. Then, a position player, Austin Slater, took over for Weaver, which is my cue to turn the TV off. This bullpen is an embarrassment. 

The Yankees will look to avoid being swept tomorrow, with Cam Schlittler on the mound; the Tigers' pitcher is still TBD. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: The Yankees' bullpen is pathetic, and only scoring three runs in two games might be even worse. The third time in the history of the Yankees, they have lost by 10 or more runs in back-to-back games. That's all I have on to tomorrow.