About Last Night: Yanks Lose in 11

by Paul Semendinger

May 14, 2025

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About Last Night:

The Yankees played a late game last night in Seattle. Not only was iot a late start, it had a late finish as the game went into extra innings. The Yankees rewarded their loyal fans by losing in 11 innings.

Quick Stats:

• Max Fried: 5 ip, 4 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 1 run allowed

• Tim Hill: 0 innings, 2 hiots, 1 run (LOSS)

• Yankees Bullpen (until Tim Hill): 5 ip, 0 hits, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts, 0 uns,

• Trent Grisham: 2 hits

• Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Austin Wells: 1 hit each (no other Yankees batter had a hit)

The Big Story and My Takes:

It was bound to end sometime. The Yankees had been 8-0 in Max Fried starts. This was the first game that the Yankees lost a game that Fried started. He earned a no decision.

Max Fried did not have his best stuff, but he pitched as an ace should. He battled throughout and allowed only one run. He did his job. Fried's ERA for the season stands at 1.11.

A lot is being made about Trent Grisham's hitting. He's been a terrific hitter this season. His defense, though, has not been especially good. He made a host of bad plays against the A's the other night that helped lead to a Yankees loss. He's had other "adventures" in centerfield this year. The one run last night against Max Fried came because Grisham misplayed a long flyball. If he caught that ball, the Mariners would not have scored their first run and the Yankees would have won the game. (I know all about Michael Kay's "falacy of the predetermined outcome," a point he makes continually, but the main point remains. Grisham's play led to Seattle's lone run until the 11th inning.)

Regular reader Robert Malchman noted the Yankees troubles in low scoring games with a guest article the other day. Last night was more of the same, the Yankees lose a lot of close games. The team can score a ton of runs, seemingly oftern, but they also lose far too many close games. They have had a bunch of games like last night when they just cannot get it done. This inability to win close games is preventing the Yankees from having a truly remarkable season.

The run the Yankees' scored was "little ball." Not "small ball" as in, really smart great baseball, it was "little ball" as in, they barely hit the ball to get the run. Paul Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch on his hand, just barely. He then stole second base. Austin Wells then hit a slow grounder to the left side, played by the third baseman on the infield grass to retire Wells. That slow grounder moved Goldschmidt to third. Anthony Volpe then hit a pitch off a check swing to the right side of the infield that scored Goldschmidt due to an off-line throw by the first baseman. All of this got the job done, but, except for Goldschmidt's stolen base, it wasn't pretty.

Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing balls and strikes after Jasson Dominguez was called out on a low pitch. The announcers noted that the home plate umpire's strike zone was erratic all night.

Juan Soto returns to the Bronx as a Met on Friday night. He will not get a warm reception. I have no problems with Juan Soto leaving the Yankees. Most of the fans who boo Soto would have done the same thing he did - taken more money. Of that, there is no question, at all. Also, so many wanted Juan Soto, a player already traded twice in his career, to be "loyal" to the Yankees. Why should he have been loyal to the Yankees, a team he played on for one season? The game is a business. The same Yankees fans that will boo Juan Soto for not being loyal have cheered countless players including Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham, Alex Rodriguez, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, Rich Gossage, Jason Giambi, CC Sabathia, Mike Mussina (and on and on and on) who left their teams to play for the Yankees. Being mad at Soto for doing the same thing is selective outrage. Players can be disloyal to their teams, as long as they become Yankees? Is that the standard?

I hope the Yankees win all three games (of course), but I hope Juan Soto has a huge series. Why not? As a Yankee, he was great. When he was on the team, he had a terrific season. That's all fans can ask. He did his job as a Yankee. Period.

Next Up:

The series concludes this afternoon with a much more reasonable 4:05 p.m. start time. Will Warren starts for the Yankees.

The Yankees will then be off on Thursday before returning home to play the Mets in a big three-game series.