Yankees Waste Speed, Chances, And Another Ben Rice Blast In 4-1 Loss To Reds
The Yankees had the legs. They had traffic. They even had Ben Rice doing Ben Rice things again.
And somehow, they still walked out of Yankee Stadium with a 4-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
Six Stolen Bases And Almost Nothing To Show For It
This was one of those games where the box score almost lies to you. The Yankees stole six bases, which should scream pressure, chaos, and a lineup making life miserable for the other side.
Jasson Domínguez stole two. Cody Bellinger stole two. Jazz Chisholm Jr. stole two. That is usually the kind of game where the Yankees are pushing runs across without needing three-run homers.
Not this time.
They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, left 14 men on base, and somehow turned all that movement into one run. That is not aggressive baseball. That is running in circles.
Rice gave the Yankees their only real punch in the third inning, blasting his 22nd home run of the season to right center. He finished with two hits, a walk, and the only RBI of the day.
That is the good part.
The problem is everything around him dried up. The Yankees had chances early, including Domínguez and Bellinger moving into scoring position in the first, but Jazz popped out. Bellinger was stranded in the third. Chisholm stole third in the fourth, and Austin Wells popped out.
Same story, different inning.
One Bad Inning Buried Elmer Rodríguez
Elmer Rodríguez was not awful, but the fourth inning got him. He walked Nathaniel Lowe, gave up a single to Noelvi Marte, and then Tyler Stephenson crushed the swing that decided the game — a three-run homer to left center.
That was it. Cincinnati did not beat the Yankees all over the yard. They just got the big swing the Yankees never found.
Rodríguez allowed three runs over four-plus innings, while Chase Burns gave Cincinnati five innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts. Burns did not dominate cleanly, but he survived the traffic, survived the stolen bases, and made the pitches when the Yankees had men standing in scoring position.
The Ugly Part Is The Trend
The Yankees lost for the third time in four games, and this one had the extra annoying layer because they had opportunities all afternoon.
The bullpen kept them close until the ninth, when Camilo Doval allowed a leadoff double to Spencer Steer, a throwing error by José Caballero moved him to third, and Marte doubled him home to make it 4-1.
By the bottom of the ninth, there was no rally, no noise, no real threat. Amed Rosario lined out. Ali Sánchez flew out. Anthony Volpe lined out. Done.
The Yankees are still 46-30, but games like this are how a good team starts annoying its own fan base. You cannot steal six bases, collect seven hits, get four walks, and score once at home.
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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