Yankees rally falls short in 4-3 loss to Padres

The Padres took down the Yankees 4-3 to win the series. Gerrit Cole got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against former Yankee Michael King. 

Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger and Luis Garcia Jr. went three up, three down in the top half of the first inning. 

Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo shot on a hanging knuckle curve to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. Jake Cronenworth followed with a home run of his own, making it back-to-back and giving the Padres a 2-0 lead before Cole could record an out. Then 

Manny Machado made it back-to-back-to-back home runs as Cole immediately put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole. 

With one out in the top of the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. dunked a bloop single into left-center field. Then Jasson Dominguez, who was recalled yesterday, legged out an infield single. However, George Lombard Jr. grounded into a fielder's choice, and Ryan McMahon grounded out to strand runners at the corners. 

Cole allowed a single to leadoff the bottom of the second inning, and the ball got past Dominguez's glove, allowing the runner to move up to third. However, Cole picked up a groundout, a strikeout and a popout to strand the runner at third base. 

In the top of the fifth inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs thanks to a double from George Lombard Jr. and walks from Austin Wells as well as Rice. However, Cody Bellinger just missed a grand slam and flew out to the warning track in right field. 

Cole retired the Padres in order in the bottom half of the fifth inning as he did a nice job of bouncing back after a rough first inning. 

Then in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Padres extended their lead to 4-0 thanks to a solo shot from Luis Campusano. 

With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Belli legged out an infield single; Paul Goldschmidt then pinch-hit for Garcia and worked a walk. Spencer Jones lined an RBI double down the third-base line to get the Yankees on the board and bring the tying run to the plate. Amed Rosario pinch-hit for Jazz and legged out an RBI single; a second run would come around to score on a throwing error from Padres pitcher Adrian Morejon, making it a 4-3 game. José Caballero pinch-ran for Rosario and was gunned down attempting to steal second. 

John Schreiber replaced Cole on the mound in the bottom of the eighth and worked a scoreless inning to keep the deficit at one run. 

In the top of the ninth inning, Wells worked a two-out walk to put the tying run on first base for Rice. But unfortunately, Rice struck out to end the ballgame. 

The Yankees will have an off day tomorrow before welcoming the Rockies into town for a three-game series. Cam Schlittler will take the mound and face off against Gabriel Hughes. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: An unfortunate series loss for the Yankees as they failed to capitalize on the Rays losing a couple of games this weekend. After a brutal first inning from Cole, he did a great job of settling in and keeping the Yankees in the game. Schreiber looked good; I have liked what I have seen of him so far, given his limited sample size. Of course, former Yankee King completely shut down the offense. It seems like the Yankees offense always gets shut down against former Yankees. Jones had a great series in his return to his hometown. It sounds like Grisham might be done for the season, so we will be seeing a lot more of Jones, which I am very excited about because I love watching Jones. Not much more to say than that; unfortunate series loss. On to Tuesday, as the Yankees have to find a way to sweep the Rockies if they want to have any chance of making up four games on the Rays with just 19 games remaining.