Yankees drop fifth straight as bullpen blows another lead

New York—The Yankees continue to find new ways to lose, dropping game one of this three-game series 6-5 to the Mets. Marcus Stroman got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Justin Hagenman for the Mets. 

Jasson Dominguez, who had four hits in the loss last night, wasted no time getting the scoring started today via a leadoff solo home run to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The first home run for Dominguez since his walkoff against the Rangers on May 21.

Aaron Judge made it back-to-back bombs thanks to his 32nd home run of the season to make it 2-0. 

Brandon Nimmo reached on a leadoff double that just got over the head of Dominguez, who had a 99% catch probability. Juan Soto and the Mets then quickly responded with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the first inning to tie the game up at 2-2. 

"Yeah, I'm just trying to get it up and in, and it just kind of backed up, and he's one of the best for a reason," Stroman said about Soto's home run. "You know, he's extremely locked in right now. He's kind of all over everything. So he's just an incredibly hard AB." 

Pete Alonso put the Mets in front with an RBI single that kicked off Volpe's glove to give the Mets a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning. 

Cody Bellinger quickly responded with a solo home run, his 13th of the season, to extend his hit streak to 10 games and make it a 3-3 ballgame. 

DJ LeMahieu picked up a one-out single in the top of the fifth inning. The next batter Dominguez crushed a two-run home run the other way to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead, his second of the game and eighth of the season. 

Stroman worked around a one-out single from Soto in the bottom of the fifth inning and picked up a couple of strikeouts to put together a scoreless inning. 

Ian Hamilton took over for Stroman in the bottom of the sixth inning and immediately served up a solo home run to Brett Baty to put the Mets within one run, making it a 5-4 game. Tim Hill then replaced Hamilton and picked up the final out of the inning. 

Marcus Stromans final line: five innings pitched, seven hits allowed, three earned runs, one walk, nine swings and misses, and four strikeouts on 81 pitches. Stroman threw his sinker 31% of the time, the slurve 27%, the cutter 19%, the splitter 16%, and the curveball 7% of the time. Stroman was decent and gave you about what you would expect from an overpaid pitcher past his prime who only throws 89 mph. The trade deadline can't come soon enough. 

"I feel pretty good. I feel good," Stroman said on how he feels since returning from the IL. "I think JC was amazing behind the ditch today. I thought the defense was great. And yeah, just a building block to hopefully feel better in my next outing." 

Hill remained in the game for the bottom of the seventh inning and picked up the first two outs of the inning, then Luke Weaver replaced Hill. Weaver immediately walked a batter and gave up a two-run home run to Jeff McNeil to surrender the lead, making it a 6-5 Mets lead, as the Yankees' bullpen struggles continue and Weaver continues to look long a completely different pitcher since returning from the IL. 

"Just that last bit of execution, which is the fine line between being dominant and giving up some damage... Fully trust in him to get through that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

"I said I've been feeling good, that just might be a lie now, I don't know,” Weaver said. “It's hard to make sense of what's going on.”

Scott Efrross, who was just recalled from AAA today, took over for Weaver in the bottom of the eighth inning and retired the Mets on order. 

The pinch-hitting Trent Grisham, DJ, and Dominguez went down in order in the top of the ninth to end this one 6-5 final as the Yankees continue to find new ways to lose, dropping their fifth straight game. 

The Yankees will look to avoid losing a sixth straight and losing the series tomorrow with Carlos Rodon on the mound facing off former Yankee Frankie Montas. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: The Yankees continue to find new ways to lose in June; their offense couldn't get it done when the pitching was playing out of their mind. Now the offense has figured it out, and the pitching has been trash. Weaver, who was one of the Yankees' best relievers before he got hurt, has been horrible since coming back from the IL. Judge and Belli both were great offensively. Dominguez also continued his hot hitting with two more home runs as the 22-year-old rookie now has a .782 OPS with a 121 wRC+. Not much more to say about that game as the Yankees' downward spiral continues. 

"We'll see. The leadoff spot has been a strong point this year... It's possible, love his at-bats right now," Boone said on Dominguez hitting leadoff.