The Yankees' bullpen imploded and the bats fell silent for most of the contest in the team's 9-4 loss to the Texas Rangers in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Here are the takeaways...
-The Yankees bullpen has been good-to-great all season, especially Luke Weaver. However, the wheels fell off for him in the sixth in relief of Cole. With one out, Weaver allowed back-to-back singles before Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a mental mistake at third base, going for a tag on a runner instead of standing on the base for the forceout, allowing everyone to be safe (after a replay review).
With the bases loaded, Weaver walked in the Rangers' second run and a sac fly put across the third Texas run. Corey Seager then launched his first career Yankee Stadium home run into the right-field stands to take a 6-1 lead.
Weaver's 0.1 innings was the shortest of his career but it wouldn't get much better. Michael Tonkin allowed three runs in his 1.1 innings of work.
The Yankees bullpen combined to allow eight runs on nine hits and one walk over 3.2 innings pitched. Mark Leiter Jr. and Tommy Kahnle pitched scoreless innings to end the bullpen's night.
-Gerrit Cole did his job to keep the game manageable, giving up just one run over 5.1 innings (90 pitches/63 strikes). The only issue he had was in the fourth when he allowed a run but easily settled down. At one point, he retired seven straight batters en route to striking out 10 batters. Throwing to rookie catcher Carlos Narvaez for the first time, the two had some moments where they weren't on the same page. Despite that, Cole pitched well.
Cole's final line: 5.1 IP, one run, six hits, two walks and 10 strikeouts.
The reigning AL Cy Young winner has now back-to-back solid starts, allowing just three combined runs over his last 11 innings.
-The Yankees offense just couldn't come up with any offense after putting up eight runs in Game 1, until after the game was well in hand and their bugaboo against lefties continued.
Entering the day, the Yankees had the best wRC+ (119) and the third-most runs scored (594) overall. But they were 15th in wRC+ (104) and 24th in runs (125) against lefties (h/t Gary Phillips). Cody Bradford proved those trends true as he allowed just one run on five hits in his five innings of work.
The lineup did wake up a bit in the later innings with the team down eight. Giancarlo Stanton launched a 451-foot blast into Monument Park. The slugger went 2-for-4 with the home run and double. It was the team's first run since a Gleyber Torres RBI single in the second.
Chisholm would follow with a solo shot to pick up his career-high 20th homer of the season.
The newest Yankee hit home runs in both games of the doubleheader and went 4-for-8 combined in the double dip. He's the first player in Yankees history to hit seven long balls in his first 12 games with the team.
As a team, the Yankees walked just once and struck out 11 times.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto combined to go 0-for-7 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Game MVP: Cody Bradford
The Rangers southpaw struck out seven Yankees and scattered a bunch of runners to keep the Bombers at bay with just one run.