About Last Night: Reds 5, Yanks 4

by Paul Semendinger

June 25, 2025

***

Last night, the Yankees lost in 11 innings.

Quick Stats:

• The Yankees are 3-9 over their last 12 games.

• The Yankees are 10-14 over their last 24 games

• The Yankees have scored in three of 20 innings over the first two games of this series

• The Yankees had one hit after the 5th inning last night

• The Yankees went 1-9 with runners in scoring position

  
  

• Carlos Rodon: 6 ip, 0 runs, 4 hits, 1 BB, 5 strikeouts - No Decision

• Jonathan Loaisiga: .1 ip, 3 hits, 1 BB

• Fernando Cruz (.2 ip), Luke Weaver (1.0 ip), Devin Williams (1.0 ip) = 0 Runs

• Mark Leiter Jr. : 1 ip, 3 hits, 2 runs (Loss)

The Game:

It's a busy time for the SSTN staff, so the ol' Editor-in-Chief had the game again last night. I missed the first three innings because I was doing a book talk for The Least Among Them, but tuned in during the top of the fourth.

In looking back, I saw that the first six Yankees outs were strikeouts. The only Yankee who didn't strikeout in the first two innings was Jazz Chisholm who singled.

Carlos Rodon allowed a few singles, but was also in control through the first three.

In the fourth inning, the Yankees started scoring because they knew I tuned in. They were just waiting for me which is something I appreciate. Ben Rice hit a solo homer . It seemed, for a moment like that would be the only run the Yankees scored. ("Here we go again!") Aaron Judge had singled following the homer, but then the Reds got two outs before Jazz Chisholm singled again. Anthony Volpe then hit a two-run triple (it should have been a single, but the centerfielder, TJ Friedl, dove for the ball and it scooted past him and went to the wall). That gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Rodon, who sometimes gives leads right back to the opponent, gave up a one out double ("Here we go again?"), but he pitched out of the inning allowing no runs.

The Yankees must have forgot that I tuned in because they didn't score in the 5th, 6th, 7th...

Carlos Rodon was taken out after six innings. He had thrown only 88 pitches. Jonathan Loaisiga came in for the Yankees. That tuned out to be a bad decision. With one out, he walked a batter. Then there was a single off Jazz Chisholm's glove. Then came a single that Anthony Volpe fielded in the hole on a sort-of dive and then he couldn't get a handle on the ball to throw the runner out. Following that came a three-run double to left ending Loaisiga's night. Fernando Cruz came in and retired the two batters he faced.

The Yankees didn't score in the 8th or 9th. Neither did the Reds. Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless 8th. Devin Williams pitched the scoreless ninth.

In extra innings, the Yankees failed to score in the 10th. Anthony Volpe was the imaginary runner. Austin Wells swung at the first pitch and popped out. Jasson Dominguez then flew out to left-center. Trent Grisham and Ben Rice then walked to load the bases for Aaron Judge. Judge popped out to the shortstop who basically caught the ball next to the pitcher's mound.

The Reds also failed to move the runner and score in the 10th. Mark Leiter pitched the 10th for the Yanks.

In the 11th, the Yankees scored a run. Aaron Judge was the imaginary runner. Cody Bellinger moved him to third on a ground out. He then scored on a wild pitch. That gave the Yankees the lead. They didn't hold that lead for long.

Mark Leiter was still pitching for the 11th for the Yankees. Elly De La Cruz had an infield single beating out a slow grounder hit to the right side. That put runners on first and third with no outs due to the imaginary runner. Spencer Steer then singled home the tying run. De La Cruz thought the game was over and didn't advance to third. A mistake like that is something that it seems would devastate the Yankees. It didn't hurt the Reds. Leiter then threw a wild pitch to move the winning run to third. The next batter walked. With the bases loaded and no outs, the Yankees brought Cody Bellinger in to play as a fifth infielder. It mattered not at all. Gavin Lux came up to pinch hit for the Reds and won the game on a single.

My Takes:

Some of the sound effects at the Great American Ballpark sound like computer games for kids from the early 2000s. (Treasure Mountain is one game that I remember as having similar sound effects.) It's an interesting decision to have those sounds as the stadium noise.

Marcus Stroman pitched in Double- A last night. He put up the following numbers: 3.2 innings, 10 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 strikeout, 2 walks. There is no way, at all, that he deserves a call-up at this time after that performance.

Late in the game, Jazz Chisholm carried on, a great deal about a low pitch called a strike. He eventually struck out. Of note, a similar pitch was called a strike on Elly De La Cruz in the top half of the same inning. He also struck out. The announcers didn't mention that at all when they discussed the bad call on Chisholm. They should have. It goes both ways.

Chisholm then continued complaining about the call and got himself thrown out of the game. I would not be surprised if he gets suspended because he carried this way too far. Gettiung thrown out also forced the Yankees to use catcher JC Escarra at third base in the 11th inning (although that didn't factor at all in the results).

If I ran a team, I would insist that every single player, even Aaron Judge, learn how to bunt. The fact that so many batters cannot move a runner in extra innings is amazing. I know the idea that "you don't bunt on the road," but if the Yankees had scored in the 10th, with a bunt, and a sac fly, the game would have ended there. The Yankees often play for the big inning and fail to even score. Their approach is not working.

When every pitcher out of the bullpen seems to be a guy who can't go for more than one inning, a team can quickly run out of pitchers, as the Yankees did last night.

Coming into the game, the Yankees were 13-26 in extra inning games on the road, the worst record in all of MLB since the ghost runner rule came into effect. They lost again and are now 13-27.

The Yankees are 1-6 in seven extra inning games this year.

Next Up:

The series against the Reds concludes tonight. The Yankees play at 7:10. The game is another one taken away from the fans as it'll be streamed to audiences who have some pay service that I do not have.