On the day the Yankees lost part of their rotation to injury, Luis Castillo gave them a very good look at his ability to shut down a good lineup. The Reds ace, no-hit the Yankees for five innings and in the battle of the bullpens that followed, the Bombers’ taxed relief corps came up short.
The Reds scored three off lefty Lucas Luetge in the top of the 10th inning and upset the Yankees 7-6 at the Stadium Thursday night.
It was the Yankees’ fourth loss in the last five games. The Reds (34-55) won the three-game series, just the fourth series the Yankees (62-27) have lost this season. The Bombers still hold the best record in baseball, but they are ending the second half on a bit of a slide. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games.
With the trade deadline two weeks away, Thursday night was a good reminder that “you can never have enough pitching.”
Before the game, the Bombers had to place Luis Severino on the injured list with a “low grade,” strained right lat muscle. The 28-year old was hopeful that he wouldn’t miss that much time, unlike in 2019 when he missed months with a partially torn lat.
Nestor Cortes looked rejuvenated in his final start before heading to Los Angeles for his first All-Star Game appearance, holding the Reds to a run over seven innings of work; he walked one and struck out four. The seven innings, however, pushed him past his total innings in the big leagues last season.
Both Severino, who had pitched just 27 innings over the last three years before this season, and Cortes will have to have their workload managed in the second half. The Yankees can do that with the depth they said they were happy with in spring training. Or they can go out and get another pitcher.
Thursday night, Castillo went out and showed why he will be among the most coveted prizes at the trade deadline. The 29-year old right hander held the Yankees to a run on two hits. He struck out eight and walked four over seven innings.
Anthony Rizzo broke up the no-hit bid with one out in the sixth. Castillo plunked Aaron Judge and Rizzo lined a double into right field. Stuart Fairchild bobbled the ball, but third base coach Luis Rojas wisely held Judge up at third. The Yankees slugger scored the tying run on Giancarlo Stanton’s ground out back to the pitcher.
That tied the game.
The Yankees high-powered offense—they lead the majors in runs scored—struggled to get much going against Castillo. Once they got into the bullpen, however, Aaron Judge hammered his 31st homer of the season, a 435-foot shot that hit the wall over the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center field. Gleyber Torres hit his first homer since June 19, a two-run shot to tie the game in the eighth.
Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the inning with his 11th home run of the season, but the Yankees could get no closer.
Still, the Yankees managed just six hits, to the Reds’ 11. Their offense has stalled a bit of late. Wednesday night, they scored five unearned runs, including the walk off run in the bottom of the 10th. They managed just three runs against the Reds in Tuesday night’s loss.
It wasn’t enough to make Cortes’ solid night stand up.
Cortes loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with one out, walking Fairchild, the Reds’ No. 9 hitter, and hitting leadoff hitter Jonathan India. Brandon Drury lifted a fly ball to Matt Carpenter in right field. In just his fourth outfield start since 2014, Carpenter hesitated, checking third base first, his natural instinct as an infielder, before throwing home. That allowed the Reds to score and got a flustered reaction from Cortes.
Jonathan Loaisiga, in his first appearance since May 22, gave up three runs in the top of the eighth on a single to Joey Votto and a double from Kyle Farmer.
