The Yankees opened a three-game series at home with a 5-1 loss to the San Diego Padres. New York has now lost three straight games.
Here are the takeaways…
– Randy Vasquez took the ball for New York in his major league debut. He previously posted a 1-5 record with a 4.85 ERA in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2023. The right-hander featured a fastball/sweeper combination for the first inning. Despite walking Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts in the first inning, Vasquez responded to strike out Rougned Odor swinging with a 96 mph fastball to end the top of the first. Vasquez’s breaking ball emerged as a putaway pitch in the third with a pair of strikeouts to retire Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto. Through four innings, Vasquez fanned five Padres.
However, Vasquez lost steam in the fifth. After getting two quick outs, he would hit a batter before giving up a monstrous two-run shot to Soto to put the Padres up 2-0. That was Soto’s fourth career homer in five games at Yankee Stadium. After giving up a single and a walk, Ron Marinaccio came in to pick up the third out of the inning.
Vasquez was impressive in his debut and gave the Yankees 4.2 IP (84 pitches/51 strikes), giving up four hits, two runs, three walks and striking out six.
– Joe Musgrove took the mound in the bottom of the first inning. Through the first two frames, the right-hander tallied a pair of strikeouts and stranded a runner in each inning. The Yankees did not record a hit until the bottom of the fourth inning when Soto and Bogaerts could not haul in respective line drives from Anthony Rizzo and DJ Lemahieu. Both plays were ruled hits before Musgrove escaped the jam when Harrison Bader grounded into a force out.
Musgrove would get through the Yankees lineup with little effort. He’d give up a run in the sixth on a Rizzo groundout and the only other time he got into trouble was in the seventh. He would be pulled after 6.1 innings, and the Padres bullpen got out of the inning.
Musgrove’s final line: 6.1 IP (88 pitches/61 strikes), six hits, one run, no walks and struck out six.
– Tatis Jr., who was hearing “steroid” chants from the Yankee crowd in the first inning, launched a two-run shot of his own in the sixth inning off Marinaccio. He took his time rounding the bases, and even shrugged at the fans in right field when he got back on defense.
The Padres’ Big 3 of Soto, Tatis and Bogaerts went a combined 5-for-15 with two home runs, a walk and four RBI.
– The Yankees offense would finally get on the board in the sixth. After a one-out single by Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge launched a double to set up Anthony Rizzo. The first baseman grounded out and San Diego conceded the run, and cut the Padres deficit to 4-1.
They’d have another chance in the seventh after Willie Calhoun and Anthony Volpe hit back-to-back one-out singles. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out on a 10-pitch at-bat, and pinch-hitter Jake Bauers popped out to end the threat.
The Yankees’ top four hitters (Torres, Judge, Rizzo, LeMahieu) went a combined 5-for-16. Judge had a particularly tough time on Friday. Despite hitting a double, he struck out three times.
– With Vasquez making his MLB debut, the Yankees bullpen had to put in some work. While Marinaccio gave up the two runs, Ryan Weber really gave New York length. He went three innings, scattering four hits but did give up a run. He did strike out three batters while he saved the majority of the bullpen for the rest of the weekend.
Highlights
What’s Next
The Yankees continue their three-game series with the Padres for a Saturday matinee. First pitch is set for 1:05 pm
Luis Severino is set for his second start of the season and will go against Michael Wacha.