Rieber: Free T-shirt not fitting consolation for Yanks' loss
New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger (35) tosses hit bat after striking out during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. Credit: Noah K. Murray
The Yankees gave out a T-shirt before Saturday’s game against the Cubs. A future-telling T-shirt, as it turned out.
On the back, in what must be considered trendy all lowercase type, was the phrase: “i went to yankee stadium and all i got was this eric emanuel t-shirt.”
Other than begging the question, “Who is Eric Emanuel?” – he’s a clothing designer, duh – the T-shirt stood as an accurate reflection of what Yankee fans among the sellout crowd of 46,839 endured during Saturday’s 5-2 loss.
Along with the shirt, fans got to take home some worries as the Yankees saw their five-game winning streak snapped.
The biggest one: Max Fried left after three ineffective innings because of a blister on his left index finger.
Blisters are usually no biggie, right – just soak it in pickle brine! — but they have been very problematic for Fried, who had four stints on the injured list because of the annoying ailment in his eight seasons with Atlanta.
“It was a good one,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He definitely had to come out.”
Fried, who had already been replaced by teammate Carlos Rodon on the American League team for Tuesday’s All-Star Game because he wasn’t going to pitch after starting on Saturday, said he didn’t feel a hint of a blister until his next-to-last pitch.
Then: pop!
Fried, unfortunate blister expert, said he doesn’t know how severe this one is yet.
“The next few days are going to be big,” he said.
Because of the break, the Yankees can give their ace an extended rest before his next outing if they wish, which may not be the worst thing considering Fried is at 122 innings after Saturday’s stinker.
The Yankees didn’t help Fried much in Chicago’s three-run third inning. Oswald Peraza, who is only playing because of his glove (and because the Yankees still don’t have a real third baseman), couldn’t make a difficult play to his left on what was correctly scored an RBI single by Carson Kelly for the first run of the inning.
More egregious was Peraza’s throw to second and what could have been an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play with the score still just 2-0. Peraza fired it wildly to Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s throwing-hand side, forcing Chisholm into an awkward, air-mailed throw to first that went deep into the stands behind the Yankees dugout.
Chisholm’s error allowed a run to score (earned because you can’t presume the double play – why not but OK) and then another one (unearned) on Ian Happ’s subsequent single to center.
Two short years ago, Peraza was the Yankees’ No. 3 prospect, according to MLB.com, and was ranked as the 46th best prospect in all of baseball.
It’s fair to say his luster has fallen; watching Peraza struggle at third and at the plate (0-for-3, batting .151) makes you wonder if the Yankees really needed to release DJ LeMahieu.
Even if LeMahieu stood at third base and didn’t move an inch either way or try to bend, could he have been worse than what was on display on Saturday? Still something off about the idea that LeMahieu was so far gone that he couldn’t even attempt to play third.
Not that Fried was good.
“I was bad,” he said. “I wasn’t good.”
Of his 73 pitches, 71 of which were thrown pre-blister, only 39 were strikes. Fried walked three after never having walked more than two in his first 19 starts as a Yankee.
Offensively, the Yankees were throttled by All-Star lefthander Matthew Boyd, who allowed four hits in eight shutout innings (no walks, six strikeouts, 85 pitches).
The Yankees’ first hit was a double inside the third-base line by Aaron Judge with two outs in the fourth. Their third was a Judge ground-rule double to left in the seventh. Judge hit a 409-foot drive that was caught at the wall in left-center his first time up.
His last time up, in the ninth against reliever Brad Keller, Judge hit a two-run home run to right. It was his 35th, the most ever by a Yankee before the All-Star break, and the 350th of his career. Judge is the fastest player to 350 by games in MLB history (1,088 games; Mark McGwire is next at 1,280).
So the fans got to see Aaron Judge be Aaron Judge.
Maybe that could have been printed on the back of the T-shirt fans were handed as they exited the stadium: “i went to yankee stadium and all i got was to see aaron judge be aaron judge. and this t-shirt.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
