ST. PETERSBURG -- There’s no way to sugarcoat it: The Yankees put forth one of the sloppiest defensive performances in their franchise’s postseason history Monday night against the Rays in Game 2 of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field.
In what was effectively a must-win game, the Yankees lost, 5-2, in large part because of four errors -- and that’s just the mistakes that were counted by the official scorer. There were other blunders that won’t show up in the box score.
It was a game that recalled memories of New York’s disastrous fifth inning in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. Except this was arguably worse.
The Yanks’ four errors tied for the second most in the franchise’s 448 postseason games. And it’s a big reason why they are trailing 2-0 in this series and facing elimination as they head back to the Bronx for Game 3 on Wednesday.
“Obviously, a really rough night to say the least for us,” manager Aaron Boone said.
New York’s rough night in the field was highlighted by a first inning that featured three errors and another misplay.
Yandy Díaz led off with a chopper to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who said the ball “spun up on him” before it ultimately clanked off his glove. After Jonathan Aranda singled past a diving McMahon into left field, Junior Caminero hit a cutter up the middle that shortstop George Lombard Jr. made a nice play on to glove and flip to Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the forceout at second base.
Chisholm barehanded the feed, then decided to try to complete the double play against Caminero, who led MLB with 26 GIDPs this season. But Chisholm’s off-balance throw was wide of first baseman Luis García Jr., sailed to the Rays’ dugout railing and allowed Díaz to score from second.
Chisholm said if he could do it all over again, he would probably still try to make that play. Boone said his second baseman probably should have held on to the ball, but he didn’t have a problem with the attempt: “We've got to play catch. It's the big leagues,” he said.
The mess continued for the Yankees when the next batter, Liam Hicks, appeared to strike out. However, his check swing clipped the glove of Austin Wells, resulting in catcher’s interference, a third error of the inning and a free base for the Rays’ catcher.
The three errors tied a postseason record for the most in a first inning. It last occurred in the first when the A’s made three errors in Game 1 of the 1975 AL Championship Series against the Red Sox.
Outfielder Chandler Simpson then rolled a ball over to Chisholm, whose throw to Lombard at second pulled the rookie off the bag, eliminating any chance New York had of doubling up one of the fastest runners in the sport. Lombard managed to reach back and touch the bag for the second out.
Schlittler limited the damage to one unearned run on 19 pitches (17 strikes) in the first inning, but the Yankees’ defense would cost him again in the Rays’ game-changing four-run fifth. That included two ground balls -- one to Chisholm and one to Lombard -- that could have resulted in plays at the plate, but Chisholm was a little too far back on the infield dirt (by design) to throw Jonathan Aranda out at the dish, and Lombard didn’t field his chance cleanly, allowing Caminero to score on what was Schlittler’s final pitch of his evening.
Schlittler allowed four runs (two earned) over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out only two batters on his 76 pitches (56 strikes). The errors drove his pitch count up, and Boone said that might have affected his ace’s effectiveness.
“I think it's maybe a different story there if we take care of the ball and he's at 25-30 pitches instead after the first two [innings] and gets in a rhythm,” Boone said.
The Yankees’ fourth and final error came two batters later in the fifth as Jonny DeLuca reached on an errant throw by Lombard. Brooklyn native Richie Palacios made New York pay with a two-out, two-run knock off Brent Headrick.
The fact that many of these miscues were made by usually dependable defenders -- McMahon, Chisholm, Lombard -- made the loss even harder to digest, according to Chisholm. He said his infield mates are “the best defenders I’ve ever played with.
“For me, it hurts us a little bit more than you think.”