3 Yankees players who got exposed in embarrassing series loss to Red Sox

On Friday, the Yankees picked up a 9-6 win over the Yankees thanks to a big first inning outburst highlighted by home runs from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe. It was also the last time that Yankees fans would feel any happiness during the series, as the Red Sox won the final two games of the series pretty handily. 

Here are three players who are thin ice after their lack of success in the disappointing series.

3 Yankees players who got exposed in embarrassing series loss to Red Sox

Ian Hamilton 

After starting the year with a 1.74 ERA across his first 10 appearances this year, he’s been in free fall as of late, as he’s posted a 5.87 ERA across his last eight games.

One of those games came on Saturday, when he allowed two runs in one inning in Boston’s 10-7 win on Saturday. 

Hamilton entered the game with the Yankees trailing by one before he gave up a two-run single to Trevor Story that was set up by a walk and back-to-back hits. 

Hamilton’s now allowed a run in three of his last seven appearances, and ranks in the second percentile in walk rate. 

Boone likely wouldn't have gone to Hamilton if not for his bullpen being overworked, but it’s clear that the Yankees need to pull the plug on his time on the MLB roster. 

Hamilton has one minor league option remaining, so they can send him to Triple-A without needing to worry about losing him to another team.

Pablo Reyes

While Reyes only went 0-for-2 against the Red Sox, his inclusion on this list is more of a legacy award than anything else. 

The 31-year-old is 5-for-28 this year and has been worth a team-low -0.7 bWAR. In short, he's been one of the worst hitters in baseball this year. He also has 28 at-bats and it is ... June.

HIs two at-bats came in Saturday’s game, and he’s only appeared in 12 games over the last month (and has gone 2-for-12 in that span). 

There’s no excuse for the Yankees to have Reyes in the same lineup as Aaron Judge, and this weekend was more proof of that.

Ryan Yarbrough

Yarbrough’s renaissance has been a great story for the Yankees this year, but it hit a snag on Saturday when he allowed eight earned runs in just four innings. 

The biggest blow came when Boston batted around in the third inning en route to scoring five runs. The outing showcased the limitations of Yarbrough’s throwback pitching style that’s based more around deception than velocity. 

He’s in the 93rd percentile in barrel rate and hard-hit rate, but only in the 13th percentile in whiff rate. When it’s not clicking for Yarbrough, he can get beat up, and that’s exactly what happened on Saturday. 

Don’t get us wrong, Yarbrough’s still a good pitcher and has a role on this Yankees team, but he’s best as a swingman; having him in the rotation is a ticking time bomb that could go off at any time.