The New York Yankees’ slide after a dream start to the season reached a new low on Thursday, courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds. And also Trent Grisham.
The bad times were well underway by the ninth inning, with the Reds leading 8-4 and on the verge of becoming the first team to sweep the Yankees in a three-game series this season. Then Grisham made himself an easy target for fans frustrated with New York’s struggles.
With two outs, Reds third baseman hit a line drive in center field to Grisham, who casually held his glove down and bobbled the bouncing ball. Candelario, still rounding first, saw the bobble and motored to second for a double. The boos came quickly for Grisham’s low-effort play.
On the bright side, Grisham has had more costly misplays on a bouncing ball in the outfield, as the Yankees’ current right fielder is very aware.
The error ended up being harmless, as Spencer Steer struck out in the next at-bat to end the inning. Unfortunately, no comeback came for the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth, completing the sweep for the Reds.
The bigger issue for the Yankees was three home runs allowed by starting pitcher Marcus Stroman, who allowed five earned runs in five innings of work.
Aaron Judge’s hitting coach blasts Yankees’ player development
With the sweep, the Yankees have now lost 13 of their last 17 games, a span of time which has seen them go from 2.5 games up on the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East to 2.0 games back. Six of those losses have been by six runs or more.
That skid comes despite the Yankees employing the most unstoppable hitter on the planet in Aaron Judge, though he did go 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Thursday. Richard Schenck, the former MVP’s personal hitting coach, had something to say about that when the numbers were brought up on YES Network.
They’ve lost 13 out of 18 while he’s hitting like an MVP
The Yankees offensive player development is terrible.
— Richard Schenck, JFD PPP LQC TTE 🙂 (@Teacherman1986) July 4, 2024
It’s been an all-around bad time for the Yankees. Their next chance to turn it around will be a home series against the Boston Red Sox starting Friday, with a pre-All-Star break road trip against the Orioles starting to loom very large.
