Unbelievable: I didn’t give my best in the game……Marcus Stroman
Marcus Stroman just has himself to blame.
On Thursday, the New York Yankees suffered a 4-3 loss to the Houston Astors. Arron Judge’s moonshot home run went viral, but the Astros’ three-run lead in the first inning proved to be too much for New York to overcome.
The winning pitcher, Marcus Stroman, threw 5.2 innings and gave up two walks along with four runs on nine hits. According to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, Stroman had only himself to blame for the defeat following the game.
There’s undoubtedly a lot of adversity there. I kind of put our squad in a bit of a hole early on since I wasn’t good enough. It must simply be better. Not letting up three in the opening. I simply believe that when I do that, I’m not giving my squad a fair shot.
Stroman’s Yankees career has had a mixed start. He gave up just one run and three hits in 5.1 innings against the Detroit Tigers prior to this start. He got into problems early on, but he managed to escape losing a significant lead; Arron Boone remarked, “There was never that backbreaking blow.”
There was this time. In the first inning, Jon Singleton hit a two-run home run and Yordan Alvarez hit a single. That proved to be the difference in the end in a close game.
Yankees miss out on sweeping the Astros in their series.
The Yankees had won both of the prior games, Tuesday 10-3 and Wednesday 9-4. Thus, regrettably, Stroman’s outing proved to be insufficient, and the opportunity to sweep the Astros was lost.
According to Phillips, Aaron Judge discussed the defeat following the game and said, “It didn’t happen for us today, but it came down to the wire.”
With a strong all-around performance through 5.2 innings pitched and just two runs allowed on four hits, Ronel Blanco earned his fourth win of the season for the Astros. Josh Hader entered the game in the ninth and ended it, even though Gleybar Torres had walked him early on and Anthony Volpe had given him a long at-bat to match.
The Yankees were unable to sweep the Astros overall. After starting a three-game series on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays, Stroman moves to 2-2 on the season with a 3.80 ERA. The Yankees will then play three games on the road against the Minnesota Twins.
Hopefully, Stroman can recover and resume his winning ways.
READ MORE:
Yankees bring Nick Burdi back into the bullpen.
A relieved arm comes back into the fold.
Nick Burdi, a 31-year-old righty reliever with just 15.1 career MLB innings and just three since the start of 2021, was one of the Yankees’ better acquisitions during spring training in 2024. After being selected by the Twins in the 2014 draft out of Louisville, Burdi has had a difficult ten years, undergoing two Tommy John operations as well as a treatment to treat thoracic outlet syndrome. Even an emergency appendectomy caused quite a bit of damage!
But Burdi made it out of camp this year against the Yankees as a non-roster invitee, and as Andrés mentioned the other day, he made an immediate impression with his strikeout stuff. He produced more strikeouts (28.6%) than any other pitcher in the New York bullpen in April because to his four-seamer/slider combination and pitch action, but he was only able to play in seven games and 6.1 innings before being placed on the injured list due to right hip irritation.
Fortunately for Burdi, this time around the injury was minor, and he’s ready to return to the bullpen. He’ll be there when the Yankees take on the Rays in a three-game series starting tonight at Tropicana Field.
Ron Marinaccio was demoted last night to make place for Burdi because the Yankees didn’t want to assign anyone from their current bullpen. Ron Marinaccio still has choices. With a 1.42 ERA and 0.789 WHIP in his nine games, the righty seems quite stable; considering the typical turnover of pitcher injuries, he won’t be out long.
The Yankees’ tweet above also mentions Oswald Peraza, an infielder who is currently undergoing rehabilitation, moving to Double-A Somerset. His spring training was cut short due to a shoulder injury, and he spent the last week with the Tampa Tarpons. The Yankees would likely prefer that he play rather than fill the bench role of seldom-used Jahmai Jones, so after his rehab transfer to Somerset is complete, he may wind up in Triple-A Scranton.
