About Yesterday Afternoon: Defeated By The Red Menace. Reds 4, Yankees 1

About Yesterday Afternoon: Defeated By The Red Menace. Reds 4 - Yankees 1

By Tim Kabel

June 22, 2026

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The Yankees continued to stumble yesterday, losing their second game in a row and the series to the Cincinnati Reds. The Yankees could not chase Chase Burns and although Elmer was not Elmer Dud, he wasn't good enough to beat the Reds yesterday. 

Burns improved his record to 9-1 and allowed 1 run and 5 hits over 5 innings. He struck out 7 and walked 3. He has allowed 2 or fewer runs in 12 straight starts, which ties a team record going back to 1900.  My friend Roger provided eyewitness verification of this. 

Rodriguez was called up unexpectedly to fill the slot of Gerrit Cole, who will pitch tonight against the Tigers. According to Aaron Boone, it is nothing to worry about and was just a way of giving all of the starters an extra day of rest during this prolonged stretch without any off-days.

When Aaron Boone says not to worry, I worry. I'm not saying that he's a fibber, but he is not exactly a reliable source of information and has a very loose association with accuracy when it comes to providing updates.

To make room for Elmer Rodriguez, Jake Bird was optioned to Scranton. It is unclear what the Yankees will do at this point. I would like to see them keep Rodriguez up in the rotation, at least for the time being and move Ryan Weathers to the bullpen. I doubt they will do that. I also doubt that they will bring up Carlos Lagrange at this point. I suspect, and I hope I'm wrong, that they are more likely to send Rodriguez down and bring up Angel Chivilli.

Elmer Rodriguez was not terrible. He made one mistake, allowing a fourth inning three-run home run to Tyler Stevenson. Rodriguez is continuing to develop in his sporadic starts on the Major League level. There appears to be a lot of promise there. He's just a work in progress.

The Yankees only run came on Ben Rice’s third inning home run. The Yankees had seven hits and four walks and stole six bases but were unable to capitalize on it by scoring actual runs. This was the first time the Yankees stole six bases in a game since September 5^th, 2013. Jasson Dominguez, Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm, Jr. stole two bases each. Jose Caballero was caught stealing in the second inning and Anthony Volpe was picked off first base in the third inning.

Ben Rice was the only Yankees hitter to have more than one hit. After Rodriguez came out of the game, Tim Hill, Paul Blackburn, Brent Headrick, (of course), and Fernando Cruz combined for four innings of scoreless relief. Naturally, Camilo Doval came in and surrendered a run in the ninth inning. Doval might be awful, but at least he's consistent and predictable. The best way to describe him is reliably unreliable. I wonder why Bird was sent down and Doval remains in the bullpen. To quote a line from The King and I, “is a puzzlement.”

The Yankees need to bounce back from losing this series and two games in a row. They will begin a series in Detroit before heading to Boston. Luckily, both of those teams have been struggling, although the Tigers have been playing much better lately.

A Few Tidbits: 

·       The Yankees lead the American League in stolen bases with 80.

·       The Yankees were 0-9 with runners in scoring position yesterday and went hitless in their final 24 at bats with runners in scoring position in the series. This was after they scored forty runs in their five games before Saturday. That’s Baseball, Suzyn.

·       This was the second game this season in which the Reds allowed six stolen bases. They should see if Johnny Bench feels up to catching a game.

·       Austin Wells returned from his minor league rehab which was supposed to reset him. He returned to form going 0-2 with a strikeout and his batting average for the season is .163.

·       Chase Burns became the first Reds pitcher to win eight straight decisions since Tom Browning in 1989.

·       On June 21^st, 1939, The Yankees officially announced the retirement of Lou Gehrig.

·       On June 21^st, 1989, The Yankees traded Ricky Henderson back to the Oakland Athletics for Eric Plunk, Greg Cadaret, and Luis Polonia. Gee, that was a good move.

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Today, the Yankees will open a three-game series against the Tigers at 6:10 PM at Comerica Park. Gerrit Cole, (2-1, 2.57 ERA) will face Framber Valdez, (3-5, 4.09 ERA).