YANKEES GET SWEPT BY REDS

- April Claudio, Contributor

The Yankees continued to struggle this week as they got swept by the Reds in a 3 game series. The pitchers can’t seem to pitch more than 4 or 5 innings now, Juan Soto likes to walk, and the rest of the lineup just can’t seem to get much going either. I don’t know what happened to put them in this slump but despite the struggles they are still in 2nd place for the AL East and only 2 games behind the Orioles.

Here’s a recap of the Reds series:

Tuesday night Luis Gil pitched against Graham Ashcraft. Gil had another mediocre outing, but not as bad as his last two starts. He pitched 4 innings and gave up 4 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks. Ashcraft pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. The Reds were winning 5-0 until the sixth inning. Will Benson and Elly De La Cruz each hit 2 run home runs to contribute to that score. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the sixth inning on a RBI single by Gleyber Torres and a 2 run double by Ben Rice. Aaron Judge hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to put the Yankees down only 1 run. But neither team could make anything happen and the final score was 5-4, Reds won.

Wednesday night Carlos Rodon pitched against Andrew Abbott. Rodon actually pitched better than his last few starts. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and struck out 8. Abbott on the other hand had a 2 hit shutout going into the seventh inning. He ending up pitching 6 1/3 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits and 4 walks. The Reds went up 2-0 in the second inning off a 2 run home run by Noelvi Marte. They scored another run in the fifth inning with a solo home run by Stuart Fairchild. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the seventh inning off a double by Anthony Volpe but couldn’t get any movement on the bases after that. The Reds won 3-2.

Thursday night Frankie Montas who had a short stint with the Yankees was on the mound against Marcus Stroman. Stroman pitched 5 innings and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits and struck out 6. Montas also pitched 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 4. The Reds scored first with a solo home run by Nick Martini in the second inning. Then Jonathan India hit a solo home run in the third inning and Spencer Steer hit a 3 run home run in the fifth inning. The Yankees got on the board in the fifth inning with solo home runs by Austin Wells and Ben Rice. Tim Hill pitched the seventh inning for the Yankees and gave up two singles before being replaced by Jake Cousins who walked Steer to load the bases. Jake Fraley came up to bat and hit a triple allowing 3 more runs to score for the Reds. Juan Soto hit a 2 run home run in the seventh but the Yankees couldn’t get anything going after that. The Reds won this one 8-4.

The Reds became the first NL team to sweep a regular season interleague series at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees head into the weekend with a 3 game series against the Red Sox starting Friday night. Hopefully they play better this weekend than they did the last time they faced the Red Sox.

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