Monday night was a disaster for the Yankees, kicking off their West Coast trip with an ugly 10-1 shellacking from the Los Angeles Angels in the series opener. It was a brutal showing, but the real story was how often New York shot itself in the foot with a defense that looked completely lost.
Early Pitching and Costly Misplays
Elmer Rodriguez, who was legit sharp in his last big-league start, could not get things going this time around. He held the Angels scoreless through the first two frames, but two-out hits in the third and fourth sent him to the dugout early. Rodriguez allowed four runs on four hits, three walks, two hit-by-pitches, and five strikeouts over just 3.2 innings. Not ideal. After Spencer Jones finally sparked the offense, Michael Fulmer and the defense immediately coughed that run right back up. Christian Moore blooped an RBI double off a sliding Jones. Moore then scored from second on *two* throwing errors during a pickoff attempt. Fulmer picked up his first earned run in six outings since joining the Yankees, and you just know he was fuming.
Offensive Spark and More Defensive Woes
The Yankees’ bats were mostly silent against Angels rookie Walbert Ureña for over four innings. But then Spencer Jones gave us a jolt of life, crushing a solo homer deep over the right-center wall in the fifth, cutting the four-run deficit. You gotta love seeing Jones flash that power; that’s his eighth bomb of the season, with five coming in his last 30 games! You’d think that momentum might carry over, but nope. Luis Gil, making his first MLB appearance as a reliever, got absolutely hung out to dry by the defense. He punched out three in his first inning, but Jose Caballero botched his second error in as many innings. That forced Gil to throw more pitches and, worst of all, let in LA’s seventh run. Gil did manage a scoreless second, working around another one-out hit-by-pitch, but the damage was done.
Rookie Dominance and a Glaring Problem
Even when the game was out of reach, the bullpen couldn’t escape unscathed. David Bednar was brought in for the eighth in a six-run game, and the Angels still roughed him up. This was only the second time Bednar has struggled in the last ten days, but he gave up three runs, two of them on a Vaughn Grissom double. Grissom was a beast, ending the night with three hits and four RBI. Before this game, Bednar had allowed just two runs (one earned) throughout August, so this was a sour note. Meanwhile, Walbert Ureña was dealing, shutting down the Yankees to only that one run on five hits, zero walks, and eight strikeouts over seven dominant innings. His ERA is now a sparkling 2.85 for his impressive rookie campaign, and he was the Game MVP. And if you want to know what’s *really* plaguing the Yankees? Look no further than shortstop. With Caballero’s two miscues last night, the Yankees now lead ALL of MLB with 39 errors from that position. That’s a brutal stat, and it tells you everything.
It’s a tough start to the road trip, but they have to put this behind them. Gerrit Cole (7-7, 3.19 ERA) is on the mound tonight to try and right the ship against Grayson Rodriguez (4-5, 6.03 ERA). First pitch is at 9:38 p.m., and they absolutely need a bounce back.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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