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The Yankees’ glaring issue from 2024 showed up again, and it’s only the second game of the season.
They committed five errors during a 20-9 win over the Brewers on Saturday in The Bronx, providing a sour asterisk to what will go down as a historic offensive game.
Pablo Reyes, a non-roster invitee who got one of the final bench spots and earned the platoon start over Oswald Peraza against left-hander Nestor Cortes, committed two errors, while Anthony Volpe, Max Fried and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each accounted for one.
“Obviously, we didn’t catch the ball great,” manager Aaron Boone said, while later adding that those miscues make it difficult to judge Fried’s outing. “I mean, that’s an understatement.”
And as a result, Fried, making his Yankees debut to start a $218 million deal and a campaign where he’ll be tasked with stepping in as the ace with Gerrit Cole sidelined, couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning to earn the win despite getting all of the run support.
He allowed six runs — with just two earned — on seven hits, while walking two batters and hitting two more, throwing 94 pitches and landing 56 for strikes during an outing where he also struggled with command at times.
“Pretty frustrated about not being able to make that play in the second [inning] to get out of it,” Fried said of his error. “But all in all, when your teammates support you and being able to have 16 runs in the first four innings, just gotta be able to try to get as many outs as you possibly can.”
The experiment with Goldschmidt hitting leadoff turned into more than a spring training one-off.
With the Yankees facing their first left-handed starter of the season in Cortes when they resumed their series against the Brewers, manager Aaron Boone gave his Game 1 lineup a complete overhaul — and that included the 37-year-old Goldschmidt leading off for the first time in his career.
Goldschmidt, who inked a one-year deal in the offseason to become their new first baseman, hit leadoff during a March 22 Grapefruit League game against the Phillies with lefty Jesús Luzardo on the mound, but Boone was noncommittal at the time about his plan for the regular season.
On Saturday, that became clear — at least for one game — and Goldschmidt opened with a home run en route to a day where he went 2-for-3 with a walk.
“Not necessarily,” Boone said pregame when asked if Goldschmidt will hit leadoff against all left-handed pitchers. “Kinda depends. This is a little unique in who we’re facing and how they’re aligned and everything. … I mean, we could look up in a month or two and somebody else has kind of emerged to become the more natural leadoff spot, but we’ll see.”
Ian Hamilton commenced a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday and the Yankees expect him to be available when he’s eligible to come off the 15-day injured list April 8
Giancarlo Stanton has been taking swings in the cage, Boone said, but hasn’t done anything “crazy yet.” … Legendary Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia threw out the first pitch. … The Yankees honored Lou Cucuzza Sr., the longtime visiting clubhouse manager who died last month at 86 years old, before the game.
