The Yankees made it interesting late, but Gerrit Cole’s rough night buried them in Detroit as the Tigers beat New York, 5-3.
The Yankees are still sitting with the best record in the American League at 46-31, but right now they look like a team trying to survive without Aaron Judge instead of a team stepping on throats.
Detroit beat the Yankees 5-3 on Monday night at Comerica Park, handing New York its third straight loss and fourth loss in five games. That is not panic time. That is also not something you just brush off because the record still looks pretty.
The Yankees actually grabbed the first run of the game in the second inning. José Caballero walked, stole second, and Ali Sánchez ripped a double to left to make it 1-0. Simple baseball. Take the walk, steal the bag, cash it in. Beautiful.
Then Gerrit Cole gave it right back, and then some.
Cole Did Not Have It
Cole came into this one with a dominant history against Detroit, but none of that helped him Monday. The Tigers jumped him for three runs in the third after Zack McKinstry opened the inning with a triple. Kevin McGonigle brought him in, then Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith added RBI singles after Cole was one out away from escaping.
That is the part that stings. It was not just one swing. It was traffic, missed finish, and Detroit making him pay.
McGonigle added an RBI double in the fourth, and Riley Greene launched a 422-foot homer in the fifth to make it 5-1. Cole’s final line was ugly: 4.1 innings, 9 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts.
The Yankees did fight back in the seventh after Sánchez was hit on the wrist and had to leave the game. Austin Wells came in to run, and two pitches later Amed Rosario crushed a two-run homer to right to cut it to 5-3.
That was the moment where the Yankees had a little life. They even got two infield singles in the eighth from Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr., putting two on for Jasson Domínguez.
But Will Vest came in and punched out Domínguez, then handled the ninth. Ballgame.
Yankees Need The Bats To Wake Up
Framber Valdez held the Yankees to 1 run over 6 innings and struck out 8. New York finished with 12 strikeouts as a team. Without Judge, that cannot keep happening. Somebody has to turn these almost-comebacks into actual wins.
Right now, the Yankees are still good. But this little skid is starting to get annoying.
Born in Manhattan, New York, Felix Pantaleon is a Dominican-American digital content creator and the founder of NYYNEWS, one of the first and longest-running independent New York Yankees content creator platforms, active since 2005.
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