The New York Yankees lost the American League Wild Card game to the Boston Red Sox.
As a result, they went home while the Red Sox advanced to the Division Series.
It was a very tough season for the Bombers, for lots of reasons, and it was painful for their fans to lose at the hands of their biggest rivals.
It was a lousy effort by most players, but these were two most disappointing performers of the night for the Yankees.
2. Joey Gallo
Here, we could have listed several of the Yankees’ offensive performers.
Giancarlo Stanton had a three-hit night with two balls off the Green Monster and a late home run, and Anthony Rizzo also went yard.
Everybody else was a zero in the batter’s box.
Brett Gardner was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, and Gleyber Torres was 0-for-4.
Kyle Higashioka, Gary Sanchez, Andrew Velazquez, and Rougned Odor also took at-bats and came away empty-handed.
But if we weigh expectations into the equation, the Yankees surely expected a better night from Joey Gallo.
Yes, he hit two balls hard, but an 0-for-4 night with a strikeout as the cleanup hitter hurt the Yankees.
Joey Gallo was @AaronBoone cleanup hitter last night..
0-4 with a strikeout. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/jZ1UQWQbHR— Sweeter (@TheRealSweeter) October 6, 2021
He also didn’t take advantage of a runner at second (Stanton) in the sixth inning and popped out to end the frame.
It was another disappointing day for Gallo with the Yankees.
In 95 games with the Texas Rangers, Gallo hit .223/.379/.490 with a .869 OPS.
With the Yankees, he slashed a disappointing .160/.303/.404 with a .707 OPS in 58 contests.
Impatient fans have criticized him for his lousy play, but he does carry some serious bounce-back potential for 2022, his last season of team control with the Bombers.
It remains to be seen if he does have a rebound year, but his showing in the Wild Card game left something to be desired.
1. Gerrit Cole
By now, you surely know that Gerrit Cole couldn’t even get out of the third inning on Tuesday against the Red Sox.
Pitching against Boston was a tough assignment for him all year, as he had a 4.91 ERA against them.
Cole had also been struggling since injuring his hamstring on September 7.
However, you would expect a much, much better outing from your ace and Cy Young candidate.
Last night, Cole didn’t resemble the pitcher who finished the year with a 3.23 ERA and 243 strikeouts at all.
He did have three punchouts and missed nine bats in two-plus innings, but his command was off and he, once again, was hit hard.
Cole had allowed five runs in six innings during his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays last week, and the Wild Card game against Boston went even worse.
In 2.0 innings, he allowed four hits and two walks, resulting in three earned runs.
All runs were the result of home runs: he conceded a two-run blast in the first inning to Xander Bogaerts, and a solo homer to Kyle Schwarber in the third.
His final line could have been much worse, but Clay Holmes cleaned up Cole’s mess in the third, when he left with two men on and no outs.
The $324 million man failed to deliver in the outing the Yankees are paying him to dominate.
This is the exact type of game you got Gerrit Cole for. The exact type of game you gave him a $324 million contract for. Throwing a dud in this spot? Embarrassing.
— Jeremy Schneider (@J_Schneider) October 6, 2021
He will come back next season with a chip on his shoulder, but there is no denying that Cole was the dud of the night for a Yankees team that needs him to be dominant night in and night out because they can’t consistently produce runs.
NEXT: Yankees Fans Rightfully Upset With Gerrit Cole
