Marcus Stroman struggles, Yankees bats go quiet in 10-6 loss to Rangers

Marcus Stroman could not get out of the fourth inning and the Yankees bats produced just five hits through eight innings before a late rally in the ninth in a 10-6 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.

New York dropped its third straight series and fell to 22-20 since the All-Star break and dropped six of the last 10 games. But the Yanks (80-60) remained just a half-game out of the AL East lead as Baltimore (81-60) lost earlier to the lowly White Sox.

Here are the takeaways…

– Stroman ran into trouble in the first when Tuesday night’s grand slam villain Wyatt Langford singled and Nathaniel Lowe did the same putting runners on the corners with one down. Stroman got the ground ball he wanted, but the slow roller netted Texas the game’s first run. Pitching coach Matt Blake was out for an early visit after a two-out walk before the right-hander induced a weak groundout.

The Rangers were gifted a double to start the second when a high pop-up to shallow center fell in just ahead of a diving Aaron Judge, who was playing very deep against Leody Taveras. And Ezequiel Duran made Stroman pay for a slurve that hung over the plate by smacking it into the right-field corner for an RBI double.

A beautiful one-out bunt down the third base line put two runners on, but Stroman got Langford looking (with a big 1-1 strike call going his way thanks to a good presentation from Jose Trevino) and Lowe swinging to avoid the big inning.

But Trouble found Stroman in the fourth in the form of back-to-back singles (the first an infield variety) and a steal of second put two in scoring position. A dribbler against a drawn-in infield meant the Yanks traded an out for a run. But Stroman couldn’t get the final out as Langford delivered an RBI to the right gap, and took second on a bit of slow defense. That hustle was big as it allowed him to score on a Lowe single – just beating Juan Soto’s strong throw to the plate.

That ended Stroman’s night with a runner on second: 3.2 innings, nine hits, five runs, one walk and three strikeouts on 88 pitches (55 strikes). He threw 10 first-pitch strikes to 21 batters, who put up a .356 expected batting average off the Yanks’ starter.

– In the Yankees’ previous eight games, Soto is batting.182 (6-for-33) with a .513 OPS and Judge is batting .194 (6-for-31) with a .582 OPS. Neither has homered during that stretch (which equals the longest period of Judge’s career) and not surprisingly, the Yanks have just three wins.

In the first, Soto ripped a ball that hit the glove of a leaping Lowe at first for a double with one down, perhaps a sign of luck tilting his way. Judge launched the first pitch he saw from Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi a mile high to left, but for an easy out.

Soto and Judge were each issued four-pitch walks to load the bases with two outs in the third after Gleyber Torres’ two-out infield hit kept the inning alive. But after a mound visit, Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped out to shallow right on a first-pitch curveball to leave them loaded.

In the fifth, after Torres earned a two-out walk – getting a borderline 1-2 pitch to go his way and a borderline check swing call on the 3-2 pitch – Soto flicked a ball down the left field line that just stayed fair and snuck over the wall for a two-run shot. The 1-0 Eovaldi cutter was up and away and Soto muscled it (350 feet and 102.7 mph off the bat) to give him 38 homers and 98 RBI on the year.

Soto would finish the night 3-for-3 with a walk and a pair of extra-base hits. Judge finished the day 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout and has now gone nine games without a dinger. (Both were lifted for defense in the eighth.)

– Alex Verdugo, after being frustrated with two ground outs, singled with one out in the seventh to extend a meager hitting streak to five games. The struggling left fielder has now hit safely in 10 of the last 11 games (batting .341 with a .796 OPS).

However, he didn’t run out any of the balls he put into play and was lifted with the game out of hand for Duke Ellis.

– Things got weird in the top of the ninth. Working his second inning of relief Matt Festa got the first two outs on 10 pitches before he walked the bases loaded on the next 20 pitches. Grant Anderson entered and Trent Grisham, a defensive replacement, hit a grand slam off the foul pole in right on a 3-2 pitch to cut the lead to four.

Ellis got a bloop to left for his first career MLB hit and Chisholm rocketed a ball off Anderson’s leg for an infield hit. Bruce Bochy was forced to summon his closer, Kirby Yates, to face Giancarlo Stanton, who was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts to that point (two on wild swings at balls way out of the zone).

And on a 2-2 fastball over the heart of the plate, Stanton lined a rocket (103.9 mph) to left but Langford made a leaping grab at the wall – likely taking away a three-run homer – to end the game. The 382-foot drive would have been a homer in 13 ballparks, but not in The Bronx.

– Anthony Volpe came close to a home run his first time up, but his 364-foot drive was just a flyout to the wall in left. It would have been a homer in 14 of 30 parks, but not Yankee Stadium. The shortstop entered the night with 12 hits in his last 29 at-bats but finished the day 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

– Trevino, starting with Austin Wells still banged up after getting hit in Monday’s game, went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He allowed two stolen bases.

– Scott Effross first out of the ‘pen and worked around a walk in the fourth in 1.1 innings with two strikeouts. But the rest of the bullpen (outside of Phil Bickford‘s 1-2-3 eighth) struggled.

Tim Mayza got the sixth and put two aboard with one out on a double and four-pitch walk of Langford. An infield hit off his glove on a soft roller ended his night with the bases loaded.

Mark Leiter Jr. entered and Aroldis Garcia hooked a 2-1 sweeper that got too much of the plate to the corner in left for a two-run double. A wild pitch – on a 0-2 delivery that Trevino should have done better on – plated one more to make it an 8-2 game.

Ron Marinaccio issued a four-pitch walk, allowed a steal of second, and a bloop double and a two-out RBI hit from Langford in the seventh.

Highlights

Game MVP: Nathan Eovaldi

The Rangers right-hander allowed just two runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts on 99 pitches (67 strikes) in seven innings of work. Honorable mention to Texas’ Langford, Lowe and Duran who combined for nine hits and five RBI.

What’s next

The Yankees have Thursday off before opening up a three-game series on the North Side of the Windy City starting on Friday afternoon with a 2:20 p.m. EDT first pitch.

New York is sending out right-hander Luis GIl (3.39 ERA and 1.195 WHIP over 124.2 innings) for his 25th start of the season and first since coming off the IL. The rookie hit a bit of a wall before the injury, pitching to a 9.00 ERA in 7.0 innings over his last two starts.

The Cubs have yet to announce starters for the series. But the Yanks will avoid the fine rookie Shota Imanaga, who pitched the first seven innings of Chicago‘s combined no-hitter on Wednesday night.