​Yankees manager Aaron Boone once again left a starter in too long resulting in a home run, which was the first of Machado's two dingers. Tanaka was on a pitch count in the "80-ish" range in his first game back from the disabled list, yet Boone allowed him to start the fifth inning at 75 pitches after a 30-pitch fourth inning. Meanwhile, Green had been very solid of late, allowed Machado's second homer after being extended to a second inning in his outing.
In a tough loss like tonight's, it is sometimes better for sanity's sake to look at the positives. The one clear positive was Bird's long home run and sac fly accounting for four of the Yankees runs. Bird absolutely has to get on a hot streak. We thought it might happen after the two-homer game over a week ago, but he went 5-for-25 after it heading into today. Bird's bat needs to be a complement to the right-handed heavy hitting Yankees club and he's surely talented enough to provide it. However, after a while, results are needed not talk of upside potential.