CHICAGO — Jasson Domínguez has started to look more comfortable in right field, but clearly remains a work in progress — including learning the intricacies of Wrigley Field.
The Yankees right fielder made a costly misplay on a ball down the line Saturday night, as it kicked off the wall and got past him, ensuring the go-ahead run scored all the way from first in what became a 5-2 loss to the Cubs.
“Tough play,” Domínguez said. “I was trying to get close to the wall to stop the ball and it hit the wall and bounced the other way. Definitely not ideal for us.”
It was a 2-2 game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh with Pedro Ramírez on first when Pete Crow-Armstrong roped a line drive down the line against Brent Headrick.
Only inches separate the foul line and the side wall, and Domínguez ran toward the wall before the ball hit it and ricocheted away from him. It is impossible to say whether Ramírez would have scored if Domínguez fielded it cleanly, but instead he was able to cruise home for the 3-2 lead.
“This is a little akin to Fenway with, just that barrier right there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a tough aspect of this ballpark. One of the things you prepare for and we talk about ballpark factors and things like that, but it’s one of the nooks in this place that makes it tough in that corner.”
This is Domínguez’s first series playing at Wrigley, but he refused to use that as a rationale.
“That’s not an excuse,” he said. “You have to be able to make the plays no matter where you go.”
In three starts since coming off the injured list, Max Fried has allowed four runs — all of them coming in the first inning. The one he allowed against the Cubs on Saturday came after walking leadoff man Crow-Armstrong, then spiking a pair of wild pitches that, along with a groundout, allowed him to score.
“Just the coming back and probably not as crisp, not as sharp as I normally am coming into a season,” said Fried, who got up to 78 pitches across 5 ¹/₃ innings. “But I’ve been feeling a lot better and the more I get out there, the sharper and crisper I’ve been getting.”
After the Yankees traded Camilo Doval to the Pirates on Saturday, they called up Yovanny Cruz from Triple-A and the reliever immediately got thrown into action, giving up a run in the eighth inning — the first he has allowed in four games this season.
Ben Rice started Saturday’s game out of the lineup — for the first time since June 26 — but is OK physically, as Boone said he has just been trying to find him a day off at some point, especially after he participated in the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game. Rice eventually pinch hit in the eighth inning as the potential tying run and grounded out.
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Jazz Chisholm Jr. returned to the lineup Saturday after leaving Thursday’s game in the 11th inning due to cramping in his right hamstring. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Clarke Schmidt (Tommy John surgery) threw about 35 pitches in two simulated innings Friday at Double-A Somerset and “looked good,” Boone said after watching video of the session.
