Yankees pitching raising concerns after series with Rays

For the time being, the Yankees’ offense seems to have come back, but now it’s their pitching that has raised concern. Clarke Schmidt’s seven earned runs against the Tampa Bay Rays, the struggles of reliever Albert Abreu and Nestor Cortes’ last outing have been enough to ring the alarm bells among the fans after New York split the four-game set with the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays.

It’s no secret the Yankees’ pitching staff has been hit hard by injuries from the bullpen to the starting rotation. After some hot starts from Jhonny Brito, he has cooled down and Schmidt has still struggled when he’s been on the hill.

Manager Aaron Boone admitted on Sunday that the team needed more out of their starters.

“We got to get a little more out of the rotation as a whole, no question about it,” Boone said after the Yankees lost 8-7 to the Rays. “You know, Nestor I do believe will be fine. I think this is a little bump in the road and I think he’ll make his adjustments and get back on track. You know, Clark, I mean, obviously the line was was was rough today and this little tough lineup, I think for him to go through. But he gave up a couple of runs there in his first few innings and I actually felt like he was throwing the ball really well today like and not making a lot of mistakes.”

Even if Schmidt wasn’t making a ton of mistakes on Sunday as Boone said, the righty now owns an ERA of 6.30 and has allowed 14 earned runs in his last four starts. The situation worsens when adding Cortes and his 5.53 ERA this season and the fact that he hasn’t matched the results he put up in 2022.

Perhaps things would feel as bad if the Yankees rotation wasn’t without Carlos Rodon, Frankie Montas and Luis Severino. The latter could be the closest of the Yankees starters to return. But beyond that, who the Yankees have right now are the guys that will need to get them back on track.

“We got to continue to lean in and get better and that’s what we have right now. So there’s no lamenting it. I concern myself with everything whether it’s going really well or were scuffling in there,” Boone said.

While the starting rotation may be an issue for the Bombers, their bullpen has found a way to be productive despite featuring a group of lesser-known names. They owned the fourth-best ERA in the majors at 3.20, however, even that has shown some cracks of late.

The most notable was Abreu, who surrendered the go-ahead grand slam to the Rays on Sunday that cost the Yankees a win. He has struggled during his time with the Yankees and with a somewhat limited bullpen, Boone turned to Abreu in the fifth.

His ERA has jumped to 4.95 and Abreu has allowed 11 0f 16 inherited runners to score over his last two seasons with the Yankees, according to Katie Sharp. Abreu threw four straight change-ups to Taylor Walls on the at-bat where the Rays third baseman hit the grand slam.

“I think the bigger problem is just not executing the pitch when you’re ahead in the count and that’s ultimately what got him in trouble,” Boone said.