New York Yankees: Aaron Boone admits to team getting a beatdown by pitcher Sandy Alcántara in loss vs Marlins
The New York Yankees struggled to cope with Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara on a frustrating night for the Bronx Bombers.
After putting up nine runs against the Marlins on Friday, manager Aaron Boone may have been hoping that his offense had turned a corner. Unfortunately for the Yanks, they came up against one of the league's most dominant pitchers on Saturday.
In front of 33,980 fans at LoanDepot Park, Alcántara showed why he was the right choice for the 2022 National Cy Young award. The powerful righty pitched a complete game and gave up just one run on the night. He allowed five hits, walked two hitters and struck out 10.
Per a recent article in the New York Post, Boone praised the 27-year-old after a stellar outing:
"We just got held down by a pitcher on top of his game today," said Boone.
Alcántara has failed to match the consistency he showed in 2022, but reminded everyone what he is capable of against the Yankees.
New York's lineup, littered with former MVPs and All-Stars, was off-balance the whole game. Giancarlo Stanton, Jake Bauers and Kyle Higashioka all struck out twice. Aaron Judge was kept quiet as well, finishing 1-4 with one strikeout.
Utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in the club's only run in the seventh.
The three runs the Miami Marlins scored were more than enough to hand Sandy Alcántara his fifth win of the season.
The New York Yankees have averaged just 4.30 runs per game this season
Despite the return of 2022 American League MVP and team captain Aaron Judge, New York's offense has failed to find any consistency with the bats.
They have averaged just 4.30 runs per game this year. That is a significant drop-off from the 4.98 they averaged in 2022.
The Yankees currently rank 29th in the MLB in hits (891), 29th in batting average (.232) and 21st in runs (504).
Aaron Boone is under heavy pressure to find a winning formula with this talented roster. The club has less than two months to salvage something from this season.