Sloppy Defense Dooms Yankees in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY — The Yankees committed as many errors as they scored runs on Tuesday night.
New York made four costly errors under the lights at Kauffman Stadium, allowing the Royals to battle back in the middle innings and pull away late in an 8-4 loss.
The Yankees' defensive woes began in the second inning when catcher Kyle Higashioka overthrew second on a stolen base attempt by Michael A. Taylor.
Taylor advanced to third on the play and while it didn't result in a run for Kansas City—as starter Nestor Cortes got out of the inning a few pitches later—it was a bit of foreshadowing for what would transpire later in the game.
In the fifth, with the Yankees holding onto a 3-2 lead, Whit Merrifield took off to steal third base with two men out. Higashioka airmailed another throw, skipping off the end of Rougned Odor's glove and into shallow left field.
Higashioka's second error of the night allowed Merrifield to score easily and tie the ballgame.
"It's pretty infuriating," Higashioka said after the loss. "Obviously I hate to make errors like that. Especially since one directly led to a run, it's just not acceptable."
Higashioka had previously made only four errors in his five-year career with the Yankees. With Gary Sánchez still on the COVID-19 injured list, the backstop has been playing behind the plate everyday, starting his seventh contest in a row on Tuesday.
Asked if the fatigue might've taken a toll on his body, contributing to some uncharacteristic tosses around the diamond, Higashioka assured his increased workload had nothing to do with the errant throws.
"I just messed up," he said. "It's on me."
Two innings after Higashioka's second throwing error, down two runs but still within striking distance, the Yankees felt this game begin to slip away.
Right-hander Stephen Ridings fielded a sacrifice bunt back to the mound—with a runner on second base—but spiked his throw to first. DJ LeMahieu, who scampered over from second to cover the bag with Luke Voit charging on the play, couldn't come up with the scoop, allowing the short hop to trickle into foul territory and give the Royals a three-run lead.
Finally, Voit booted a routine grounder at first to start the bottom of the eighth. Two walks and a sacrifice fly later, Kansas City pushed across their eighth and final run of the night.
With Royals catcher Salvador Perez parking two home runs off Cortes, and the Royals outhitting New York 10-to-5, it would've been tough for the Bombers to come back in the final few innings regardless. The barrage of blunders stuck with skipper Aaron Boone, though.
"It happens," said Boone. "Higgy's elite. Couple got away from him. Maybe a little fatigue setting in tonight, back-to-back long nights, hot nights. But overall, we just didn't play our best tonight."
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