So, on September the 9th, the Yankees went into the game against the Detroit Tigers looking limp and surely enough they were demolished by their opponents. The game ended 12-2, and now they desperately needed to bounce back – in order to even the series, and give them the best opportunity of going into the post-season playoffs as division winners.

One of the few highlights of yesterday’s game had been the starting pitcher, Will Warren and indeed it was when the Yankees had to substitute him and go into the bullpen that things really began to fall apart – the relievers (Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr) conceding 9 runs in one inning.

So today, with one of their strongest starters Carlos Rodon on the mound, they seemed to have a great chance.

Ex-Yankee, Jahmai Jones led off the Tigers and struck out swinging. Then, another ex-Yankee, Gleyber Torres hit one into rightfield where Giancarlo Stanton was waiting to field it cleanly for the second out. Wenceel Perez was third up and third down as he grounded toward Jose Caballero (shortstop today) who threw to Ben Rice to complete the out.

The Yankees saw a little daylight in their half of the inning with Trent Grisham taking a sigle off the Tigers starter, Jack Flaherty on a ground ball he hit to right. But a glimmer of light is often not enough. with Aaron Judge being called out on strikes. However, a wild pitch from Flaherty unsettled him for a moment and took Grisham to second. The Yankees failed to build on this with Cody Bellinger striking out swinging and Ben Rice flying out to centerfield.

Nothing changed in the second. Spencer Torkelson, the clean-up hitter for the Tigers, grounded out 6-3, and Rudy Greene followed this by hitting directly to Rice at first. And then the Tigers had their first moment with Andy Ibanez hitting a double to the leftfield corner which was awkward for Bellinger to field, but an over-eager Dillon Dingler struck out swinging.

In the bottom half, the Yankees had Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr both called out on strikes and then Austin Wells lined out to Javier Baez at shortstop.

The third inning saw Parker Meadows fly out to leftfield and then Baez hit a liner toward Rice for the second out. Again, they had a small opportunity when Jones hit a single which got past Ryan McMahon at third, before Torres was called out on strikes.

The first third of the game came to its conclusion with no score on the board, despite a number of these small chances. The best perhaps came to the Yankees in the bottom of the third when after Caballero grounded out, but McMahon hit a double into right field on a ground. Flaherty then gave up a walk to Grisham, and with Judge coming up, and only that one out, it looked like the moment for the first run had come. However, Judge hit into a double play when Baez fielded the ground ball he hit, passed it over to Torres who then passed it to the first baseman Torkelson. Grisham out, Judge out, inning over.

Any expectation that this would make this game anything other than one dominated by the starting pitching faded. Perez lined out to left, Torkelson flied out to left. Greene hit a grounder directly to Rice at first. The Yankees took the field and repeated the exercise. Bellinger grounded out to first, Rice hit a flyout to centerfield and Stanton grounded out 6-3.

And the Tigers then seized an opening in the fifth. With one out (Ibanez), Dingler hit a single to centerfield, and then Rodon gave up a walk to Meadows. 2 on, and only one out. Facing Baez, Rodon let one get away, hitting Baez with a pitched ball to load the bases. It looked like it was going to be another missed chance when Jones swung wildly on a pitch he should have left alone. Two outs. But then Torres took his moment with a line drive into centerfield which scored Dingler and Meadows and advanced Baez into scoring position at third. 2-0.

Fortunately, Perez was another who wanted to strike out swinging and the lead did not widen any further.

It was another strong start for the Yankees, but whereas yesterday, they had held it together until the bullpen took over, this time the wheels had begun to come off whilst the starter, Rodon was still around.

The Yankees looked flustered now as they had done yesterday and they struck out in order in the bottom of the fifth (Chisholm, Wells, Caballero).

So, how would Rodon handle all of this? Well, to begin with, it didn’t look good. He gave up a single to Torkelson who hit a grounder into centerfield. But then he settled. Greene was called out on strikes, with Rodon suddenly regaining his mastery of his pitch positioning. Then Ibanez line out to right and Dingler grounded into a forceplay.

The Yankees weren’t about to make any leaps and bounds in their turn at the bat. The Tigers decided that Flaherty was done and brought on Tyler Holton. The Yankees also made a change bringing in Amed Rosario in place of McMahon to face Holton. Rosario hit a single and there was hope in the Yankees’ eyes for a moment. But then, Grisham was called out on a strike and Judge once more hit into a double play to close out the 6th.

The Yankees kept Rosario on, in third and then they made one of those curious decisions that you have to weigh very carefully. Mark Leiter Jr had a truly awful game on the previous day. Now in those decisions I guess there are two theories you can follow. Either you let him sit sit for a couple of days and get his head together, anf perhaps work on his mechanics outside of game time – or, alternatively, you think it is best to allow him to get back on the horse, or bike, or some other suitable metaphor straight away and rebuild his confidence. The Yankees chose the latter…

And…?

Well, not as bad as yesterday but that doesn’t mean it was good. First he gave up a single to Meadows and then a single to Baez on a hit which ironically was deflected by Rosario. I guess you live or die by your decisions.

Detroit then brought on Kerry Carpenter in place of Jahmai Jones. It wasn’t long before Leiter added a wild pitch to deepen his struggles, taking the runners to second and third.

While the Yankees were hastily warming up pitchers in the bullpen, Leiter showed some small signs of recovery as Carpenter struck out.

The Yankees still decided to make the change and Camilo Doval came in as Leiter left. Doval was obvious;ly there to minimise the damage and fallout and getting Torres to ground out was important, even if it meant that whilst the 4-3 play was being made, Meadows was able to score and Baez advance to third. Two outs. The earned run was accounted to the struggling Leiter. 3-0.

The American League Central leaders made another couple of changes. Troy Melton replaced Holton on the mound and Carpenter stayed in the game as Designated Hitter.

Melton didn’t start too well and issued a walk to Bellinger but Rice hit into a 4-6-3 double play. This was followed by Stanton striking out on a foul tip.

And then to the 8th which was to prove to be the crucial, game-defining inning. Torkelson hit a single to leftfield on a line drive that evaded Bellinger. This was by an over-powering hit by Greene which cleared the centerfield wall. 5-0.

There was a slight change in the wind of the way that the game was going, when Ibanez grounded out to short to Caballero who threw over to Rice. At least, there was one out. But then Dingler hit a double to leftfield which led to a rare fielding error for Bellinger which allowed Dingler to move up to third.

And the Tigers weren’t done yet. As the Yankees lifted Doval and brought in Tim Hill, Hill was to concede a single alomost immediately which scored Dingler. 6-0.

The second out came when Baez hit sharply to Grisham in centerfield,, the second home run came when Carpenter hit his 24th home run of the season, allowing Parker to also move around the bases. 8-0.

Torres couldn’t add to the ballooning score as he grounded to Rosario, who threw to Rice to take him out at first.

The score was a burgeoning one indeed and the Yankees had no real chance of getting back into it. Wells did hit a homer to right centerfield but it was preceded by Chisholm striking out swinging. There was another hit with Caballero hitting a single to right on a line drive, but both Rosario and Grisham went on strikeouts. 8-1.

The Tigers were not going to allow their bats to go quietly in the ninth. They wanted to add more runs, and they did so, despite one of the Yankees more reliable relievers, Luke Weaver coming to the mound.

Perez started the display with a single to right, followed by a line drive from Torkelson which took Perez to third. A sacrifice fly to right scored Perez, and one more you would laugh if it wasn’t so misery inducing. 9-1.

Colt Keith replaced Ibanez, and the pinch-hitter launched the ball over the rightfield wall. With Torkelson also on the base paths the score was now. 11-1.

Weaver was looking deeply uncomfortable. And just to add to his humiliation, the Yankees decided to replace him with offensive player, Austin Slater.

As is often the case in these situations when the pitcher can barely raise anything more than batting practice speed on their pitches, the batters eased up. Dingler did single, but he looked awkward about it. Meadows then grounded into a forceplay with Chisholm and Caballero picking off Dingler at second. A similar force out ended the inning with the same fielding pair taking Parker out at second on Baez’s hit.

In the bottom of the ninth with the game really being allover, the Tigers decided to give some of the players who had spent the day on the bench, an opportunity to get loose. Trey Sweeney came in for Keith, and Baez switched from shortstop to third. Brenan Hanifee took over on the mound. The dejected Yankees at least and at managed to inject some energy in their play.

Slater, who was now the pitcher (!) hit a single to right. Bellinger also hit a single, also to rightfield. After all, the Yankees only needed 10 runs to take this into extras. Rice struck out swinging. However, when Jasson Dominguez was brought in to hit for Dominguez, his hit was deflected by Hanifee for a single to load the bases. The New York fans watched incredulously as their team which had been so lacking for two days, now seemed at last to have some energy.

But it was to come to nothing as so much else had. Second baseman Chisholm lined out to last year’s second baseman Torres for the second out and then Wells grounded into a force out with Dominguez out at second.

23 runs conceded in 2 days. 7 more tomorrow would make it an average of ten over the series. The Yankees looked poor, set upon, down and defeated. Could they bounce back?