The problem wasn’t how Aaron Boone — or the Yankees research department — lined up the pitching for Division Series Game 2. It was the pitching. Or the lack of it.
This is a problem that cannot be camouflaged by modern strategy. It is a problem that even this Yankees offense might not be able to overcome. A problem magnified in a postseason that will be particularly merciless in schedule to teams without enough depth in arms.
The Yankees finally landed the ace they so craved for this time of year when they made Gerrit Cole the richest pitcher ever. And in the two playoff games Cole has started the Indians and the Rays scored three runs in each and the Yankees won by a combined 21-6.
But the Yankees have now surrendered 16 runs in the two non-Cole starts. Their offense did enough to win a wild-card round Game 2, 10-9, to eliminate Cleveland. But even with Giancarlo Stanton doing his greatest flex with the Yankees, they could not outscore the mistakes of Deivi Garcia, J.A. Happ, Adam Ottavino and Jonathan Loaisiga in Tuesday night’s Game 2.
Tampa Bay’s 7-5 triumph did more than tie this best-of-five series at one game apiece. It reasserted how many more dependable arms Rays manager Kevin Cash has at his disposal than Boone.
The Yankees have Cole in the rotation and perhaps, if they could have stayed healthy, James Paxton and Luis Severino would have gone next. Tommy Kahnle, if he had not needed Tommy John surgery, could have given Boone a fourth dependable reliever to team with Zack Britton, Aroldis Chapman and Chad Green. But there are no excuses here. The Rays had far more pitching injuries this season and still ended up with far more good pitchers — despite a shoestring budget … especially compared to the Yankees.
On Tuesday night, Tampa Bay’s quartet of Tyler Glasnow, Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Peter Fairbanks combined for a playoff record 18 strikeouts.
So what can the Yankees do? The persistent beautiful weather of San Diego is going to prevent a plan of Cole and pray for rain. Tanaka had his worst postseason start in nine as a Yankee versus the Indians. Maybe that was due to two rain delays. The Yankees need the October stalwart Tanaka on Wednesday. Because by using both Garcia and Happ in Game 2, Boone revealed (without saying it) that Jordan Montgomery will be making his postseason debut in Game 4 (even if an opener goes in front of him) and that Cole will come back on short rest if there is a Game 5.
Looming over all teams this year is a playoff structure that will expose a lack of pitching depth — five games in five days for the Division Series, if it goes the distance, followed by seven games in seven days if the LCS goes full. The lack of off-days necessitates deploying at least four starters and more than just three reliable relievers.
Boone revealed after the game that the Game 2 strategy was designed to counter the platoon advantage the Rays gain with their form-shifting lineup. But even with the ability to flip seamlessly from a lineup filled with lefty hitters to one with righties, Tampa Bay was just 12th in the majors in runs. Designing a strategy to blunt that by putting pitchers in situations with which they are not familiar said more about what Boone thought of his starting options than the Tampa lineup, even if he — of course — said he trusts all of his pitchers.
Boone figured he would get length from Cole in Game 1 and Tanaka in Game 3, and this was the place to use Garcia to start, induce Tampa Bay to start its lefties and then switch to the southpaw Happ. And Cash conceded he was surprised by the quick switch. Still, this did not work for the Yankees.
Garcia and Happ combined to give up three homers, all with two strikes. The Yankees did not produce a 1-2-3 inning until the seventh. By then, Ottavino had emerged from baseball witness protection to issue a key walk and stolen base and Loaisiga — good stuff, but not results to match it — had permitted Ottavino’s run to score and surrendered his own homer to Austin Meadows.
Against these Yankees pitchers, it was the Rays who looked like they had the long, relentless lineup, swatting four homers. That more than negated two by Stanton.
It also reasserted the Yankees’ greatest worry — especially with how this postseason is scheduled — they just might not have enough quality pitching to survive this format.