Source: FanGraphs
We play today, we win today, das it. The Yankees won their third straight series Sunday night with a 6-4 win over the Mets in the rubber game of the Subway Series. They’ve won eight of their last ten games after dropping six of their first nine. Things are going pretty, pretty well right now. It’s Sunday night, so I’m going with bullet points:
- Not Good Nate: Nathan Eovaldi pitched so poorly Sunday he could have been confused for a Red Sox starter. Four runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings doesn’t really tell the story. Eovaldi threw 87 pitches but first pitch strikes to only eleven of 20 batters faced, and Mets hitters fouled off 19 total pitches, including seven in two-strike counts. Nate looked pretty good in his first three starts but his fastball location was non-existent Sunday. It’s easy to hate but based on what we saw in his first three starts, I think this was just one of those nights. It happens.
- Also Not Good Niese: Thankfully, Jon Niese actually out-stunk Eovaldi on Sunday. Alex Rodriguez got the Yankees on the board with a first inning solo homer — it hit the very top of the wall in right center and hopped over — and a barrage of doubles followed in the second. John Ryan Murphy, Gregorio Petit, Brett Gardner, and A-Rod all had two-baggers — Chris Young mixed in a single — to score four runs in the inning. All four runs scored with two outs too. Niese allowed six runs (four earned) on eight hits and a walk in five innings. Seven of the first dozen men he faced reached base and five had extra-base hits.
- Battle of the Bullpens: It’s amazing. Joe Girardi used five relievers to get 14 total outs and everyone he brought out of the bullpen seemed to be nastier than the guy he relieved. Chasen Shreve got a double play to bail out Eovaldi in the fifth, Chris Martin got five stress-free outs, Justin Wilson got his lefty (Curtis Granderson), and then Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller did their things in the eighth and ninth. Dellin was particularly nasty — he was one strike away from a four-strikeout inning. The five relievers combined: 4.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 HB. Domination.
- Leftovers: A-Rod’s homer was the 659th of his career. One more to tie Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time list … the top three hitters in the lineup went 5-for-12 (.417) with two doubles, a homer, and four runs driven in … John Ryan Murphy had another really good game, going 2-for-3 with a double and making some stellar blocks on pitches in the dirt … Carlos Beltran went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and somehow looks worse now that he did the first week of the season … the Yankees have scored 5+ runs in 11 of their 19 games. They didn’t have their 11th 5+ run game until game 29 last year.
- Late Add: This play was ridiculous. It’s been a long, long time since the Yankees had a middle infield capable of getting the lead runner on a play like that.
Here are the box score, video highlights, and updated standings. Also check out our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. The Yankee Stadium portion of the Subway Series is over — they’ll play three games at Citi Field in September — and now the Rays are coming to the Bronx for a three-game set. Adam Warren and Nate Karns will be the pitching matchup in Monday’s opener.