World Series: Yankees’ bullpen scoreless in 4.2 innings in Game 2 loss

There wasn’t much for Yankees fans to be excited about after the Yankees’ 4-2 loss to Dodgers in game 2 of World Series. The Yankees had just one hit and one run, both thanks to Juan Soto, until the top of the ninth inning, when the Yankees tried and failed to mount a comeback.

Starting pitcher Carlos Rodón was no better offensively, lasting just 3.1 innings and allowing six hits, including three home runs, and a total of four earned runs. Although Rodón and the nine starters had their fair share of struggles (outside of Soto), Yankees fans can take some solace in the fact that the bullpen was all but shut down, allowing zero earned runs and just two hits in 4.2 innings.

The bullpen night started early, with Aaron Boone pulling Rodón in the bottom of the fourth with just one out and replacing him with Jake Cousins. Cousins ​​was the losing pitcher in Game 1 when he came on in the bottom of the 10th. inning. He held just one out in Game 1, walking Gavin Lux, the tying run, and giving up a single to Tommy Edman, the winning run. It didn’t look good when Cousins ​​entered Game 2 and gave up a double to Will Smith, the first batter he faced. Fortunately, Cousins ​​got both Miguel Rojas and Shohei Ohtani to ground out to end the inning.

Boone left Cousins ​​to start the bottom of the fifth, and he was pulled after Teoscar Hernández singled to right with one out. In came Tim Hill to meet Freddie Freeman. Many of us continue to bemoan the fact that Nestor Cortes was selected over Hill, who was also ready in the bullpen, to face Ohtani and later Freeman in the bottom of the 10th. inning in Game 1.

Hill looked good against Freeman in last night’s game, prompting Freeman to pop out to Anthony Volpe. He then struck out Edman to end the inning, stranding Hernández at first. The Dodger lineup didn’t seem to have much of an answer for him — a good but bittersweet result.

After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth, Hill was replaced by Clay Holmes. In 1.1 frames, Holmes struck out two batters, Rojas and Mookie Betts. The only mistake he made was walking Ohtani in the bottom of the seventh with one out. Fortunately for Holmes, Austin Wells caught Ohtani stealing second to end the inning. Unfortunately for Ohtani, he suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder sliding into second.

Boone’s last call to the bullpen in Game 2 was at the start of the bottom of the eighth inning for Mark Leiter Jr. To my surprise, Leiter pitched a 1-2-3 scoreless inning and did so in the face of some dangerous Dodgers hitting. He got Hernández to single to center and Freeman and Edman to ground out.

Even though the Yankees still lost this game, they were very much in it until the end, and that’s thanks to the strong performance of the bullpen. It was especially encouraging to see Holmes and Leiter have dominant performances against a challenging Dodgers’ lineup. Holmes, in particular, needed it after a bit of a wild Game 1 and shaky outings to end the ALCS. Still, the numbers tell the story that overall he’s had a solid postseason — the pristine ALDS helped them get past the Royals, and he was sharp early against Cleveland and then again tonight. In 9.2 innings pitched, he has given up seven hits and just three earned runs. While the closer role didn’t suit him well, he has generally seemed to find his groove in the seventh and eighth innings.

Leiter probably wouldn’t be on the team right now if it weren’t for Ian Hamilton getting injured in Game 3 of the ALCS. I don’t think many Yankees fans had much faith in him when he was added to this roster, but he has performed well. In his three games, he has given up just one run.

We can hope that the bullpen will continue to be effective for the rest of this series. However, the Yankees have no hope of winning this series if their offense continues to flow.