Welcome to Staten News, where the New York Yankees made four errors in a playoff game and Wednesday stacks four Division Series games back to back.
The Yankees have scored two runs in 18 innings this series. Both came on Ben Rice home runs. Tonight at 8 p.m. at Yankee Stadium, they need a win or the season is over.
⚾ Four Errors and a 2-0 Hole
Monday night in Tampa, the Rays beat the Yankees 5-2, and they barely had to work for it. New York committed four errors. George Lombard Jr. was in the middle of it, booting a grounder and sailing a throw to first that let runs score.
The damage came in a four-run fifth. Richie Palacios lined a two-run single, and Cam Schlittler was gone after 4 1/3 innings: four runs, only two earned, on six hits. Freddy Peralta held New York to one run on three hits over 4 2/3 before the Tampa bullpen took it home.
Game 1 was a 1-0 Rays win. Two games, six Tampa runs, and the Rays lead the series by two.
That's the Rays formula. They don't need to overpower you. They need you to beat yourself, and the Yankees obliged.
🗽 Fried Has to Stop the Bleeding
Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA) gets the ball tonight against Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10). Lefty ace, home crowd, season on the line. That's the exact spot where the Yankees should be favored.
But Fried isn't the problem. The lineup is. Two runs in two games stopped being bad luck somewhere around the seventh inning Monday, and Martinez won 15 games this year for a reason. If Rice is still the only Yankee hitting by the fifth, start checking flight times to Tampa for the ALCS.
🧹 Chicago Is Doing It Too
The White Sox are also up 2-0, and they did it the hard way Monday in Cleveland. The Guardians scored twice in the first after an error, and Gavin Williams struck out 11 through five, tied for the second-most in a Cleveland postseason game.
Then Williams left.
Munetaka Murakami's single in the fourth got Chicago within 2-1. In the sixth, Braden Montgomery lined a two-run double down the right-field line and Chase Meidroth singled in another. Cleveland scraped one back in the eighth, and Grant Taylor closed out a 4-3 win for his second save in two games.
Chicago shut out Cleveland 3-0 in Game 1. Now the White Sox get to try to finish it at home at 4 p.m.
🔥 Yamamoto Dealt, San Diego Breathed
Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out 10 over seven innings of one-run ball Tuesday, a postseason career high, and the Dodgers beat the Braves 3-1 in Atlanta. Enrique Hernández and Freddie Freeman both homered off Chris Sale. Atlanta's only run came on a bases-loaded groundout by Drake Baldwin in the fifth, which was about as close as the Braves got to a big inning all night. Dodgers lead 2-1.
Out west, the Padres refused to get swept. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado drove in runs in the third, William Contreras and Jackson Chourio got Milwaukee back to 2-2, and Jake Cronenworth broke the tie with a solo homer in the fifth. Xander Bogaerts scored the insurance run in the sixth on a throwing error by Brewers rookie Cooper Pratt. Milwaukee got one back in the eighth, and Michael King stranded the tying run in the ninth. Padres 4, Brewers 3. Milwaukee still leads 2-1.
🏈 Atlanta Ran the Saints Out of Their Own Building
Monday Night Football went sideways early. Falcons 45, Saints 24.
Atlanta ran for five touchdowns, a franchise record. Bijan Robinson went for 145 yards on 19 carries with two scores, including a 59-yard run on the Falcons' third play from scrimmage. Brian Robinson Jr. punched in the other three. Michael Penix Jr. only needed 20 throws: 15 completions, 223 yards, one touchdown.
The Falcons are 2-2. The Saints fell to 1-3 and 0-2 at home. Tyler Shough threw 48 times for 286 yards, which tells you exactly how the second half went.
📅 Wednesday's Slate (All Times ET)
4 p.m.: Guardians at White Sox, ALDS Game 3, TBS (White Sox lead 2-0)
6 p.m.: Dodgers at Braves, NLDS Game 4, FS1 (Dodgers lead 2-1)
8 p.m.: Rays at Yankees, ALDS Game 3, TBS (Rays lead 2-0)
10 p.m.: Brewers at Padres, NLDS Game 4, FS1 (Brewers lead 2-1)
Four games, four teams one win from the LCS. This is the night the Division Series either ends early or turns into a real October, and the Yankees' piece of it starts at 8.
Sources: MLB.com postseason schedule and results, ESPN Rays-Yankees Game 2 recap, MLB.com Yamamoto Game 3 story, ESPN Falcons-Saints box score
— The Bandicoots ⚾🏈