Chasen Shreve’s shoulders don’t match Aroldis Chapman’s in size and strength, but that is where the Yankees lefty reliever said the blame should go for Wednesday night’s loss.
“I didn’t do my job and we lost the game because of it,’’ said Shreve, who gave up a monstrous homer to 19-year-old stud Juan Soto that carried the Nationals to a 5-4 victory in front of a Yankee Stadium crowd of 45,030.
Because Soto’s second homer of the game, which landed in the seats above the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center field, was the difference, Shreve is correct. However, he wasn’t alone in the blame department.
Wanting to build on two consecutive strong outings, Sonny Gray gave up a run in a first inning in which he threw 34 pitches, and a three-run, opposite-field homer to left to Soto in the fourth. Yankees hitters went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Even the Nationals making five outs on the basepaths wasn’t good enough for the Yankees to avoid splitting a two-game interleague series.
“It was ugly. We gave them five outs. Typically, you do that you don’t expect to win the game,’’ said Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who addressed his club on the issue.
As for his team not delivering the timely hit, Aaron Boone said that is part of baseball.
“That’s going to happen from time to time,’’ Boone said of his lineup failing to come through with a big hit in the seventh and eighth innings, when the Yankees went 0-for-5 in the clutch and left three runners on. “What we want to do is create traffic. The more consistently we do that, over time, the results will be there.’’
The Yankees’ lineup has been limited to 18 runs in the past six games, in which they have gone 4-2. In those six games, the Yankees are 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position.
The loss, coupled with the Red Sox (47-22; .681) beating the Orioles, left the Yankees (43-20; .683) two percentage points ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East.
Asked why he had a brace on his right arm after the game, Gray didn’t give a reason other than to say, “I wear it every day.’’
After he escaped that first inning, Gray had a good feeling. That vanished in the fourth when he flushed a 3-1 lead that was provided by Aaron Judge’s first-inning sacrifice fly, Greg Bird’s solo homer in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s RBI single in the third.
“Two-out walks always hurt, they are never good,’’ said Gray, who walked Daniel Murphy with two gone in the fourth and gave up a double to Matt Adams.
Soto, who bypassed Triple-A on the way to the majors, took a 1-0 pitch to left that Gray didn’t believe would leave the park.
“I thought it was foul ball,’’ Gray said of the three-run homer that drifted from left to right and landed in the second row of seats. “I watched the hitter’s reaction. If fair, [Brett Gardner] would have made a play. It kept carrying and that was it for me.’’
Gleyber Torres’ 12th homer off Erick Fedde starting the fifth tied the score, 4-4, but that was it for the Yankees.
Bird doubled leading off the seventh, but Justin Miller retired Austin Romine on a grounder, which didn’t advance Bird, and then fanned Torres. Lefty Sammy Solis replaced Miller and retired Gardner on a grounder that got away from the pitcher, but not far enough for Gardner to avoid being the final out.
Ryan Madson gave the Yankees life in the eighth when he walked Didi Gregorius and gave up a ground single to Stanton with one out. But Aaron Hicks struck out and Miguel Andujar lofted a stress-free fly to life.
Sean Doolittle worked a perfect ninth for the save.
Shreve was correct in taking the blame, and a good teammate doesn’t point fingers. Nevertheless, there were more shoulders to help share the blame for game the Nationals tried to give the Yankees on the bases, but couldn’t.