Yankees’ bullpen, quiet bats waste strong Randy Vasquez start in loss to Orioles
The Yankees are surviving without Aaron Judge and Carlos Rodon, but losses like the 6-3 defeat they suffered against the Orioles on Wednesday in The Bronx are a stark reminder of what they’re missing.
Rodon will make his Yankees debut on Friday, but it’s anyone’s guess when Judge might return.
In the meantime, the Yankees have had to rely on their bullpen more than they would like to and haven’t received consistent production from their hitters.
On Wednesday, starter Randy Vasquez was excellent, tossing five shutout innings, but he was only trusted to go that far.
Rodon will take his spot in the rotation and no doubt will provide more most games, which will take some stress off the Yankees’ bullpen.
That bullpen has been terrific, but had some hiccups on Wednesday.
As for the offense, the Yankees haven’t been able to string together three straight games with at least five runs since they put up 10 on three consecutive days in late May.
And on Wednesday, they were shut down by Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer, who struck out 10 in seven innings.
“He was in control of us,’’ manager Aaron Boone said.
The latest loss left them unable to gain ground on the first-place Rays, who lost a fourth straight game for the first time this season.
The Yankees had a 2-0 lead after a Josh Donaldson solo homer and an RBI single by Kyle Higashioka in the fifth inning.
But relievers Nick Ramirez and Michael King combined to give up four runs in the sixth, with the big blow a two-run triple by Jordan Westburg that got by a diving Jake Bauers in left.
“It looked like he had a chance at it,’’ Boone said of the play. “You can’t fault him for that.”
Bauers said he thought he could make the play.
The result was a waste of a strong effort from Vasquez, who stranded runners throughout his outing, including a pair in the first inning and two more in the third.
Donaldson put the Yankees up 1-0 when he led off the bottom of the fifth with an opposite-field homer to right. Although it was just Donaldson’s 13th hit of the year, nine of those have been home runs.
The game took a scary turn later in the inning.
With Isiah Kiner-Falefa on first base and one out, Anthony Volpe hit a grounder to second baseman Adam Frazier, who booted it, but recovered in time to flip to shortstop Gunnar Henderson for the force at second.
In an attempt to still get the double play, Henderson fired wildly to first and the throw sailed over first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, and hit a YES cameraman, identified as Pete Stendel, who was stationed in the camera well next to the Yankees’ dugout. The game was stopped for 17 minutes, as trainers attended to Stendel, who was conscious and waved as he was carted off the field.
Volpe moved to second base on the play and scored on Higashioka’s single to make it 2-0.
Ramirez replaced Vasquez to start the sixth and gave up a one-out double to Mullins. Aaron Hicks followed with a grounder down the third base line. Donaldson made a diving stop and nearly tagged out Mullins at third, but the Orioles ended up with runners on the corners.
Colton Cowser, making his MLB debut, singled to right to cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1.
King entered to face Westburg and gave up a liner to left. Bauers attempted to make a diving catch, but the ball got by him for a two-run triple. Westburg then scored on a fielder’s choice by Frazier, beating the throw from Volpe.
The Yankees inched closer in the eighth, when Volpe led off against Yennier Cano with the team’s second opposite-field homer of the night.
Billy McKinney, pinch-hitting for Higashioka, then reached on an infield hit, but Gleyber Torres popped out and Stanton lined to center.
O’Hearn hit a two-run homer off Ian Hamilton in the top of the ninth to increase Baltimore’s cushion.
