NEW YORK – It was a painful night for the Yankees on Monday at Yankee Stadium.
New York lost to the Tigers, 7-3, its fifth straight defeat and eighth in its past 10 games. Worse, the Yankees lost second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was nearly knocked out after colliding with right fielder Jasson Domínguez in the fourth inning. Chisholm is in concussion protocol, manager Aaron Boone said after the game.
With one out, a runner on third and Detroit leading by seven runs, the infield was in for the Yankees when Hao-Yu Lee hit a fly ball to shallow right field. Both Chisholm and Domínguez went after the ball, and Domínguez made the catch but appeared to strike Chisholm in the face with his left arm.
Chisholm went down and lay on the ground for several minutes before he was taken out of the game and replaced by Oswaldo Cabrera.
“It was really unfortunate,” Domínguez said. “The infield was in, so as soon as Lee hit the ball, in my mind, I decided I had to go catch the ball. I called for the ball, but I didn't call it loud enough. I wanted to make sure he was OK. After the game, I went to check on him.”
The Yankees can’t afford another serious injury. Lately, they have been playing without Aaron Judge (fractured right rib), Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain), Trent Grisham (right hamstring strain) and Ryan McMahon (peritonsillar abscess).
“It’s not something we want,” Boone said. “Hopefully, Jazz’s injury is not too bad. As the week unfolds, we start getting some guys back in the mix. It’s part of it. We have to handle it, and guys have to step up.”
Cody Bellinger is one player who needs to step up. In his past 15 games, he is 11-for-54 (.204) with four RBIs. The Yankees have scored 12 runs in their past five games, and they face Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on Tuesday night.
“We have to be better. There are no real excuses. I need to be better. We have a tough guy on the mound tomorrow,” Bellinger said.
On Monday, New York recorded three hits or fewer for the fourth straight game. Tigers right-hander Casey Mize struck out 10 and limited the Yankees to just one hit in seven innings, and that came in the third inning when Spencer Jones doubled to right field. Mize was out of the game when Amed Rosario hit a pinch-hit three-run homer off left-hander Drew Sommers in the eighth inning.
“[Mize] has thrown the ball well,” Boone said. “Obviously, we saw him last week and were able to get to him a little bit. But obviously, he had a big lead tonight, and he mixed in his backdoor slider to our lefties well. His four-seam had some life to it."
Yankees left-hander Ryan Weathers lasted 1 2/3 innings and allowed five runs, though only two were earned. In fact, the Yankees made two errors in the game.
“I didn’t have good two-strike execution,” Weathers said. “I gave up a lot of singles – back to back to back. I just couldn’t stop the bleeding.”
Weathers noted that every team goes through a rough stretch during the season, and the Yankees are still 48-36 and in second place in the AL East.
“We are going to start playing better,” Weathers said. “We are going to win some more ballgames. Every team goes through a little rough patch.”