The Yankees Need To Stop Themselves From Spiraling Out Of Control ASAP

  Let's face it, it was just that type of night at Target Field where Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman placed the baseball where the Minnesota Twins' wanted it. Simply put, it was a blown save by the big lefty that resulted in stunningly rare walk-off win for the opposition.  Chapman had blown only one other save in his previous 13 attempts and had given up just one earned run in 23 appearances.

  Last night's loss was summed up by Yankee manager Aaron Boone by telling the media the following statement: 

  "It stings...No doubt about it.”

  Last night's loss was even more disappointing, as the Yankees missed the opportunity to  close out a sweep of struggling Minnesota — a team they’ve absolutely owned in the recent years —and in game one and two of this series. A sweep would have been nice, especially because Aaron Boone and his team had been swept by the Detroit Tigers before entering into Target Field.

  While the Yankees didn't cash in on the sweep, they did take two-out-of-three against the Twins and the offense can feel a little better about how they are swing their bats. Coming into last night, in 43 games, Giancarlo Stanton put together 8 homers in 22 of the Yankee wins and also contributed 3 dingers in 21 of the team's losses. Those numbers were significant because Stanton continued his hitting streak by getting his team on the scoreboard after Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres both got on base by hitting singles. Stanton followed up his teammates by driving them in with a 3-run homer that traveled 422 f.t.

  The Yankees won easily Tuesday, 8-4, and they pounded the Twins on Wednesday until rookie reliever Brooks Kriske coughed up four runs in the ninth inning of a 9-6 win.

  They out-hit their opponents, 41-33. The Yankees’ big bats came alive, with those  Stanton three homers in two games, including the three-run blast that gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead in the first inning Thursday. Gleyber Torres was 5-for-13. Aaron Judge homered. Gio Urshela was 5-for-12. Gerrit Cole looked unaffected by becoming the face of MLB’s sticky substance problem — whether it was deserved or not.

  Coming into game three against the Twins, Chapman toed the rubber as one of baseball's most dominant bullpen arms thus far this year, but last night's match went from a Yankee dominating game to one where everyone was shell-shocked by Chapman's blemish.

  A first-pitch that was clocked at 96 mph, the lefty was lacking his usual velocity, topping out at 97.8 mph instead of his usual 101 mph. (That’s not to mention his fastball’s drop in spin rate as MLB wonders who will be most affected by umpires’ impending crack down on illegal sticky substances on the mound). Speaking on the matter, Chapman denied ever using the stuff. Without his real heater, Chappy allowed a single, a homer, another single, and then another homer. 

  The nightmarish outing by Chapman was over in only nine pitches. What a disappointment, right?

  A dominant night by the Yankee bats was put on the backburner by Chappy's bad outing. Baseball is baseball. Bad nights are bound to happen to every elite closer a few times a year, right? Then again, to come up short to back up this Yankee squad is no good either.

  Hopefully, the Yankees use this rare Friday off-day to work on some things and reset for their upcoming two game set against former Yankee manager Joe Girardi and the Philadelphia Phillies. They will have a lot of things on their mind that will serve as reminders iof why they need to stay consistent.

  Things like: 

  1) The fact that early this season, when their starting pitching was among the best in the league, their bats couldn’t support them. 2) When they went to Detroit, they made costly mistakes that led to an embarrassing sweep. 3)When the Red Sox came to the Bronx last weekend, the Yankees hoped to show Boston’s resurgence was at least somewhat of a fluke. Instead, the Yankees got swept then, too.

Stanton acknowledged that this one hurt.

“Throughout these long years, you’re going to see a lot worse than (Thursday) some nights,” he said. “But, yeah, having the lead most of the game, it is a bit unfortunate.”

  Aaron Bonne also made a point by saying:

  "This is different than some of those series where we’ve had a chance to finish off a team and just haven’t been able to (score) enough....This wasn't a case of that..."

  Now, going from a 2-out-of-3 game series win, the Yankees need to rethink and refocus their strategies to get another hot stretch going.