Asked if the Yankees had any sort of postgame meeting after their lineup’s scoreless streak reached 29 innings in Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Angels, J.C. Escarra worried he had missed an important gathering.
If a meeting had taken place, no one invited the backup catcher, he told the Daily News. But Escarra had nothing to fear, as multiple Yankees said nothing resembling a meeting occurred after Tuesday’s contest.
“It wasn’t like that,” Cody Bellinger told The News before Wednesday’s game. “It was just postgame chatter. It was like, ‘What do you got? Blah, blah, blah.’ We were just chatting. No, it wasn’t closed-door.”
Added Jasson Domínguez: “We were just here in the clubhouse. We were just talking, just chatting. Nothing out of the normal. Just reminding the guys to stay positive.”
Following Tuesday’s game, a report suggested that the Yankees discussed their offensive woes in a players-only meeting.
“Our guys talk all the time and get together in different formats,” Aaron Boone said. But asked if a closed-door meeting took place, the manager simply replied, “No.”
That said, the Yankees certainly know their offense needs to turn a corner.
Tuesday marked the lineup’s third consecutive shutout and the sixth straight game in which the team didn’t offer its starting pitcher any run support. Boone and Bellinger acknowledged that guys were pressing in Tuesday’s game.
Bellinger mentioned some “good talks” between players following the game, but the only meeting he referenced was the Yankees’ daily pregame hitters’ meeting.
“It’s been a fight,” Bellinger said. “Obviously, we’re not getting the job done with runners in scoring position. We’re not getting a lot of baserunners. We’re not causing traffic. So we gotta keep going and wake up tomorrow.
“We gotta get going.”
Meanwhile, James Rowson said he wasn’t concerned. While the Yankees have been in a slump, the hitting coach likes the way the Bombers have been “staying the course” that has made them one of the top-producing offenses in baseball.
Rowson expects that to remain the case, though he understands why fans have been angsty.
“I don’t really feel like there’s any major red flags in my mind in terms of what they’re doing,” Rowson said, adding there’s been some bad luck and hard-hit balls but not enough hits strung together. “There’s no worry from my side. I don’t feel any panic or worry from our guys.”
Boone, meanwhile, tried to keep the sample size in perspective while recognizing the Yankees’ sorry stretch.
“This is a handful of days and a week of a long, long season,” Boone said. “It doesn’t mean you don’t dig into what’s going on. A lot of the underlying things are there that suggest we’re the same group we’ve been all year, which is an outstanding offense.”
RICE PLATE
Boone said Ben Rice was going to get his first big league start behind the plate soon. That day came on Wednesday with Ryan Yarbrough starting against the Angels.
“Just felt like it was time,” Boone said, adding matchups played a part.
Boone didn’t rule out an early exit for Rice since he hasn’t caught a full game in a while, but the manager said he’s “not too worried” about the 26-year-old squatting for a full nine innings.
“We think very highly of him as a catcher,” Boone said.
The skipper also said he “probably” won’t have Rice catch back-to-back games, not that the Yankees need him to with Escarra and Austin Wells around.
BRUBAKER BACK IN THE BIGS
As was somewhat expected, the Yankees added JT Brubaker to their bullpen on Wednesday after optioning Scott Effross the night before. Brubaker, acquired from the Pirates last March, was on a rehab assignment, as he suffered three broken ribs in spring training after trying to avoid a comebacker. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2022 thanks to Tommy John surgery and an oblique injury.
Earlier this week, Brubaker said he feels like he did pre-surgery. With the 31-year-old nearing his Yankees debut, he also said he never lost hope that he’d make it back to the majors.
“Just the love for the game, the competitive edge,” Brubaker said of what’s kept him going. “I guess it’s like an addiction. The adrenaline rush is a drug.”
LUIS LIVE
Boone said that Luis Gil is scheduled to throw live batting practice on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. The 2024 American League Rookie of the Year suffered a lat injury in spring training and has yet to make his season debut.
Source link
