About Yesterday: Phillies 9, Yankees 4

About Yesterday: Phillies 9, Yankees 4

By Derek McAdam

July 27, 2025

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The New York Yankees lost their second-straight game against the Philadelphia Phillies, and their third over their last four overall, by a score of 9-4. Here is a recap of yesterday afternoon’s game.

Quick Stats:

W: Ranger Suarez (8-4): 5.2 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

L: Marcus Stroman (2-2): 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K

Home Runs: PHI: Bryce Harper (15), Edmundo Sosa (4) NYY: Giancarlo Stanton (7)

Ryan McMahon also made his Yankee debut at third base yesterday, going 1-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Big Story:

The Yankees came into Saturday’s game after a devastating Friday night game in which the bullpen gave up 10 runs and the defensive woes continued. However, this news was much better compared to what would be revealed yesterday morning.

Before the game, Aaron Judge underwent an MRI on his throwing elbow, which was apparently tweaked during the Tuesday game in Toronto. It was about as worse of news that could come to the franchise and the AL MVP front-runner, news that could potentially derail the Yankee season for good.

It did not take long for the Phillies to get on the board in yesterday’s game. Following a Trea Turner leadoff double, JT Realmuto hit an RBI single into left field to give the Phillies a quick 1-0 lead.

In the 3rd, after striking out the first two batters of the inning, Stroman gave up a solo home run to Harper to make the new score 2-0 Phillies. However, things would take a turn for the worst for Stroman in the following inning.

The Phillies put two more hits on the board, partially in due to four walks Stroman gave up in the inning before loading the bases for Harper. However, Yerry de los Santos was brought in to relieve Stroman after he recorded just 11 outs. Luckily for the Yankees, de los Santos got Harper to ground out on the first pitch he saw to limit the damage at just two runs in the 4th.

In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees were threatening with runners on first and second with two outs when Jasson Dominguez hit an RBI single into center field to score Jazz Chisholm Jr. and make the new score 4-1 Phillies.

The Phillies would get the run back in the 6th, when Turner continued to pummel the Yankees so far this series with an RBI double to make it 5-1 Phillies. Philadelphia would also load the bases with two outs for Brandon Marsh, who grounded out to keep the Phillies’ lead at four runs.

Things would not get any better for the Yankees, as Sosa hit a two-run home run in the 7th to give the Phillies a 7-1 lead. Following an error from Chisholm, Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run double to make the new Phillies’ lead 9-1. But in the bottom of the inning, Stanton got two runs back with a two-run home run to make the new score 9-3 Phillies.

The Yankees were able to get another run back in the 8th, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit.

Player of the Game:

Trea Turner continues to hurt the Yankees as the Phillies’ leadoff hitter. He went 2-for-6 yesterday, but he seems to set the tone for the entire offense behind him.

Notable Performances:

Multiple Phillies had a multi-hit game, including Schwarber, Realmuto, Marsh and Max Kepler. Suarez also pitched well for the Phillies and worked himself out of trouble numerous times.

Better to Forget:

The Yankee pitching staff would love to get over the poor performances they’ve given over the past six weeks. It has been a nightmare to watch and it must be even worse for the pitching staff.

My Take:

The Yankees are in a position where every game is important from here on out, especially considering they have the second-worst record in the entire league since mid-June. However, yesterday’s result may not have been the most important story of the day for the team, as most Yankee fans nervously waited for the MRI results on Judge.

In a worst-case scenario, this would definitely impact the Yankees in the final two months of the season. Judge would definitely not be playing the outfield, which would likely result in more playing time for both Trent Grisham and Dominguez, the latter of which needs to play every day. But Judge’s offense at the plate, which has gone backwards recently, may only continue to worsen.

But former Yankee manager Joe Girardi, who was color commentating yesterday’s game for YES Network, shared an interesting thought - If Judge were to require Tommy John Surgery, Girardi says to hold off on the surgery until the off-season and let him DH for the rest of the season. Why? Well, Girardi compared Judge to Shohei Ohtani and Harper, two batters who have had the surgery, and said that since Judge is a right-handed hitter, his left arm is more important in a swing and his injured elbow may not bother him as much.

I was definitely stunned to hear this, but it does make sense, and Girardi would definitely know better than me when it comes to interesting scenarios such as this, given he has actually played the game. And this would be an interesting scenario for the Yankees, considering Stanton cannot play the field in any capacity. Judge would likely not play every single day like he has if the tests come back negative. But the Yankees will likely prioritize Judge over Stanton, which would result in a lot of dead weight on the bench (no offense to Stanton).

However, the Yankees got some good news when it was revealed that Judge only has a flexor strain and that his UCL is still intact. It will require an IL stint, but for the short-term, it may be the best-case scenario for them.

As for the game, the pitching staff was abysmal to watch yet again. Control has been a huge problem for the staff and yesterday was no exception to that. Stroman did not do his job to try and eat some innings to relieve the bullpen after a heavy night on Friday, but he did not even make it past the 4th inning. It was without a doubt his worst start since returning from the IL.

The pitching has been horrendous for the Yankees lately, and the defense continues to look bad. Chisholm’s error in the 7th yesterday was on a ball that was hit right to him. It was not hit that hard and definitely should have resulted in at least one out. To me, I think these errors are a combination of a couple of factors. First, the defensive issues in the infield have not entirely been fixed. Sure, McMahon is a solid defensive upgrade at first, but that still does not fix the issues in the middle of the infield with Chisholm and Anthony Volpe.

Second, this team is overthinking every little thing at this point. They know they’re struggling and they know their playoff chances are diminishing with every loss. But when you have Aaron Boone saying that the veteran players need to step up, it may create even more confusion. I still am not sure what he means by this, given that the veteran players have been some of the better defensive players. Does Boone want the veterans to work more with the younger players? It does not exactly seem like that’s what he was getting at.

The Yankees struggle against teams that put the ball in play. While Philadelphia doesn’t do it as much as Toronto, they are still a very solid team. Any team’s motto should be to put the ball in play and let the Yankees make their own mistakes. The Los Angeles Dodgers exposed them in the World Series and it’s still continuing to impact them nine months later.

It also annoys me that the Yankees have such an issue with scoring runs that don’t come via the home run. They did not score a single run in Toronto that was not home run-related and only scored one run in Friday’s game that was not a home run. Saturday’s game was pretty similar. This is the mentality that separates them from Toronto. It seems like the Toronto players want to set up the next batter, no matter what. The Yankees players want to take matters into their own hands. It simply does not always work that way.

The trade deadline is approaching and the Yankees simply have too many positions of need to fill. They need as many pitchers as they can get and may possibly want another outfield in the wake of Judge’s absence, although I doubt they trade for one given who they have in Triple-A. Do they consider off-loading some players at the deadline? I highly doubt it, but if I was GM, it would be something to consider.

The Yankees just have to try and avoid the sweep and try to get some sort of winning streak going. It is going to be a tough matchup this afternoon, but let’s see what happens.

What’s Next?:

Before the Tampa Bay Rays come to the Bronx for a four-game series, the Yankees have one final game with the Phillies this afternoon. Zack Wheeler is scheduled to start for the Phillies, while Carlos Rodon is set to go for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. EST from Yankee Stadium.

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Image created by Google Gemini to the prompt, "Can you create an image that looks like an ancient ruin with a Yankees logo on it, crumbling and falling down?"