Luke Weaver felt he was in a fantastic place when he was activated on June 20 after being fresh off the injured list and skipping a rehab assignment due to a hamstring problem.
Weaver stated that day, “I can tell you right now that I have not felt more fluid and in control of what I’m doing, dating back even to last year.”
However, since his comeback, the Yankees reliever has not looked like himself. With the Yankees holding onto a one-run lead in the seventh inning, Weaver hit Jeff McNeil with a 3-2, two-run homer in Friday’s Fourth of July Subway Series opener, continuing that concerning trend.
In the end, the Mets prevailed 6–5. The Yankees, on the other hand, hit four home runs on Friday afternoon yet lost their sixth straight game.
Weaver is suddenly having trouble with longballs.
Prior to his injury, the right-hander had a 1.05 ERA over 25.2 innings pitched and had given up just two home runs. But after returning from the injured list, he has now given up four home runs in seven games. He’s had one in each of his last three appearances.
Over that shorter period, Weaver has given up six earned runs, and his ERA has rapidly increased to 3.19. Since returning to the Yankees’ bullpen, which has been largely unreliable lately, he has earned eight runs.
The Yankees bullpen has a 4.95 ERA since June 15 before Friday. That was baseball’s sixth-worst. Fernando Cruz’s recent high-grade oblique strain only served to underscore the club’s need for several relief upgrades before the July 31 trade deadline.
Ian Hamilton allowed Brett Baty to hit a solo home run in the sixth inning, so Weaver wasn’t the only Yankees reliever to struggle at Citi Field on Friday. The Mets lost one as a result.
Prior to that, Hamilton had a 5.14 ERA, but he had improved recently, holding opponents to one unearned run in his last eight games. His current season ERA is 3.66.
