The New York Yankees had a big 3-game-series against the Boston Red Sox this weekend. Two of the games were good and one of the games was bad for the pinstripes. Let’s talk about ‘em!
Game 1 (Friday)
One of the good games! CC Sabathia was on the hill for the Yanks. He was good! More on him later.
The Yankee offense got cooking early. Gleyber Torres hit a triple in the second inning, and then Miguel Andujar Drove him in.
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1012842045562474496
The Yankees struck for four more runs on a Torres sac fly and Miguel Andujar and Greg Bird’s back-to-back homers.
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1012853039399464961
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1012854022523383808
5-0 Yankees!
An RBI double by Andrew Benintendi was the only blemish for Sabathia. His line: 7.0 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 5 Ks, 1 BB. I love CC.
Aaron Judge added a home run, himself, in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to 7-1.
? THIS PLACE IS ROCKING ?
Aaron Judge crushes a 2-run home run the other way!
7-1 Bombers in the 7th.#YANKSonYES LIVE stream:https://t.co/qOT4QyOHCm pic.twitter.com/DaOuoJ2jVX
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 30, 2018
As if that wasn’t enough, Greg Bird went yard again. 8-1!
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1012874169451548673
Yankees: 15th time player had multi-HR game this season, most in MLB. No other team even has 10.
MLB record is 24 by 1961 Yankees and 1966 Braves
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) June 30, 2018
Chad Green and Chasen Shreve each took an inning to close it out. They combined to strike out 3 and no batters reached base. Yankees win!
Game 2 (Saturday)
This was the bad game. I’ll make this quick.
The pitching matchup was Chris Sale vs. Sonny Gray. Chris Sale pitched like Chris Sale and Sonny Gray pitched like Sonny Gray always seems to at Yankee Stadium.
Sonny Gray surrendered 6 earned runs in 2.1 innings. Once he gave up a first-inning grand slam to Rafael Devers he never regained his composure. He walked two and struck out nobody.
Sonny Gray: 8.25 ERA at home this season.
That would be highest single-season home ERA Yankee pitcher in franchise history (min. 5 starts). Current record is 7.86 by Jaret Wright in 2005.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) July 1, 2018
Sonny Gray is 1st Yankee ever with back to back games vs Red Sox of 6+ ER and 3 IP or fewer.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) July 1, 2018
He cannot be trusted in big games, and that is scary. Cashman is going to go get another pitcher.
The Yankees offense did nothing against Sale. He went 7.0 shutout innings of 1-hit baseball. The Yankees got 2 hits total. For what it’s worth, those were from Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres.
The Yankees turned to Adam Warren after Gray, and he was good. 2.2 scoreless innings.
Then it was Gio Gallegos’ turn. He was less good. 2.0 innings, 3 runs.
Jonathan Holder and Chasen Shreve each gave up one run in an inning apiece. It was Holder’s first “bad” outing since he has come back up. Not worried about him.
Shreve, on the other hand, is legitimately bad. This wasn’t one of his bad outings, really, but I feel like I should just point that out.
Oh, and Austin Romine had a precautionary MRI on his left hamstring. He is probably fine, but is listed day-to-day. There was nothing good to come out of this one, even though the results were negative.
Game 3 (Sunday)
Ah, a fun game to cleanse the pallet. As the first pitch was being thrown, news broke of LeBron James signing with the Lakers, so I’m sure many were compromised between those two events.
The Yankees hit a lot of home runs in this one!
Judge got the party rocking in the first with a solo blast. The sound on this one was incredible.
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1013578998759153664
Judge's HR off Price into Monument Park… just very nice to look at pic.twitter.com/AowkyIOxiM
— David Adler (@_dadler) July 2, 2018
Stanton singled and Didi Gregorius doubled, then Gleyber Torres really set the tone with this 3-run shot:
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1013580174351142912
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1013579503552090112
It was 4-0 after one innings.
The Yankees kept going in the second. Aaron Hicks hit his first homer of the night for two more runs..
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1013585467416014848
6-0 bombers!
They took an inning off from scoring, but then resumed play and really poured it on in the fourth.
Kyle Higashioka had been 0-22 to start his MLB career between 2017 and 2018, but he finally got his first MLB hit in this game, and it was a big one.
"Higashioka! The home run stroker!"
Sterlings call with video pic.twitter.com/cUqzocrruA
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) July 2, 2018
One of the baseball things I really wanted was for Kyle Higashioka, the Yankees' Quad-A catcher who had started his career 0-for-22, to get a Major League hit. And now he hit a homer off David Price! pic.twitter.com/ztdcfUWsGl
— David Adler (@_dadler) July 2, 2018
Hicks smacked another homer to extend the lead to 8-0.
https://twitter.com/Jesse__Foster/status/1013596977546891264
That knocked starter David Price out of the game. He had a bad evening! His final line: 3.1 innings, 9 hits, 8 earned runs, and 3 strikeouts. He gave up 5 home runs!
A Didi Gregorius sac fly would make it 9-0 after 4.
Did you think the Yankees were done? No, sir! Aaron Hicks hit another home run to extend the lead to 10-0. His third homer of the game.
https://twitter.com/MaxWildstein/status/1013619203763417088
Aaron Hicks the first Yankees leadoff batter ever to hit 3 HR in a game.
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) July 2, 2018
For fun, “Disco” Neil Walker got in on the action, notching an RBI single himself. It was 11-0 Yankees.
Luis Severino pitched like an ace again. 6.2 shhutout innings, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts. He did walk 3, but who cares? He lowered his season ERA to an AL-best 1.98.
The Yankees gave the three big bullpen guys some innings to work with.
David Robertson was the only one to go a full inning. He struck out two.
Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman then each came in for 0.2 innings apiece. Betances looked filthy while Chapman, pitching in a low-leverage spot, gave up a run. I’ll assume he gave it up to be polite. Doesn’t matter. Yankees won 11-1.
Some additional notes
- Brett Gardner batted ninth in all three of these games. Is this his new spot in the lineup or is this just because they faced three lefties? We’ll know that answer when we see Aaron Boone’s lineups against the Atlanta Braves this week!
- Even though I’m happy for Brandon Drury to be up with the MLB club, I’d rather have Clint Frazier up, if it is between the two of them. The fourth (fifth?) outfielder is more valuable than Drury, right now, and Clint has been great in the big leagues this year. Also, if they send Drury back down, they will get the extra year of control. I think that very possibly could be one of the next moves, even though Boone said Drury is probably up for the rest of the year. Right now, Drury and Neil Walker serve the same role, and perhaps Walker’s days are numbered and he will be DFA’d and Clint will be up and this will all be rendered moot, but I’d rather have Clint than Drury, if that’s my choice.
- I’m really worried about Sonny Gray. I know he can be really good. He was good most of last year with the Yankees and has actually been mostly good the last month or so, but boy when he is bad he is bad! Cashman needs to go get another arm.
- It sounds like Tanaka could be back in a week. He’s slated to pitch a rehab game on July 4, which lines him up to return for the double header in Baltimore on July 9, which is not likely coincidental. Probably the best this could have gone for the Yankees. Hopefully Tanaka didn’t rush himself with the double hamstrings: that would be bad.
Featured Image via Flickr/Arturo Pardavila III
