by Tamar Chalker
June 26, 2022
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The Yankees had no answers for the Astros' pitching on Saturday afternoon, as Houston used three pitchers to no hit New York. While the Yankees arguably have the top offense in the majors, their bats seem to be slumping lately and they took the 3-0 loss.
Quick Stats - Gerrit Cole went seven innings and gave up four hits and one run. He struck out eight and walked two.
Cristian Javier got the win after throwing seven innings with no hits, one walk, and 13 Ks.
Big Story - The big story is obviously the no hitter and pitching on the whole. Javier had a very strong start, making the Yankees' hitters look foolish for seven innings. Cole was dealing as well, but his one mistake resulted in a solo homer, which was all Houston would need for the win.
This was the eighth time the Yankees have been no-hit, with the last one similarly being in the Bronx, against Houston, and required multiple pitchers (6, to be precise). That was almost twenty years ago.
Player(s) of the Game - Cristian Javier would have to get the nod for the overall player of the game, but the only Yankee I could even remotely consider would be Gerrit Cole, who put together a solid outing but fell victim to the Yankees' lack of offense.
Better to Forget - Well, we might as well forget the offense, because the Yankees sure did. The Yankees 1-4 batters (Judge, Rizzo, Donaldson, and Stanton) struck out a combined 9 times, which about sums it all up.
My Take - I dislike the attention combined no-hitters get. When a single pitcher throws nine hitless innings, that's an incredible feat, but when you use three or more pitchers to do that I think it says more about the failure of the offense.
This is not to take away from Javier's performance. He clearly had the Yankees' number from the start, but when the Yankees couldn't even manage a hit off Ryan Pressly, who they typically hit hard, well the problem seems pretty evident. Stanton struck out three times and as a team, New York struck out 15 times. They managed three walks and had an opportunity when Donaldson got on because of a throwing error, but they never made any true threat.
Next Up - The Yankees will try to salvage a split series against the Astros today. Nestor Cortes will try to end what has been a bit of a rough patch. He hasn't made it to the sixth inning in his last three starts and has a 3.86 ERA for the month. José Urquidy will try to get the series win for the Astros. He is 6-3 with a 4.68 ERA. Opposing teams are hitting .301 off Urquidy, so the Yankees should have a good chance to get their bats going again. First pitch is at 1:35pm at Yankee Stadium.
