So that game-slash-series went well, eh? The Yankees finished off the sweep of the division rival Orioles on Thursday afternoon, clobbering Ubaldo Jimenez and various relievers in the 9-3 victory. A+ series, would watch again. The Yankees have won five of six games since the All-Star break and 12 of their last 16 games overall.
First Inning Runs
The four-run first inning was almost a zero-run first inning. The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs against Ubaldo thanks to a single (Jacoby Ellsbury) and two walks (Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez), though Mark Teixeira struck out and Carlos Beltran popped out to shortstop. The bases were still loaded, but quickly there were two outs. Not ideal! Blowing big first inning opportunities like that is just the worst.
Thankfully, Second Half Chase Headley picked up Teixeira and Beltran with a booming first pitch double off the center field wall, right near the door to the home bullpen. I thought it had a chance to get out off the bat. Had to settle for off the wall instead. Ellsbury and Gardner scored easily while A-Rod, even running with two outs, would have been out at the plate had the relay throw not been off-line. Alex is not so fleet of foot these days. Here’s the dismount:
The double gave the Yankees a nice 3-0 lead, and Didi Gregorius extended it to 4-0 with a ground ball single through the right side of the infield to score Headley from third. (He took third on the throw to the plate.) Gosh, blowing that bases loaded, no outs opportunity would have been ugly. Headley picked ’em up though. The Yankees are up to an incredible 86 first inning runs this year. The Rockies have 65, the next highest total. Bonkers.
Clobberin’ Time
The scoring didn’t stop after the first. Ellsbury hit a leadoff home run in the second, Stephen Drew (double) and Ellsbury (sac fly) drove in runs in the two-run third inning, then Ellsbury doubled in another two runs in the fifth. Left fielder David Lough made an ill-advised slide coming in on a fliner, missed the ball, and it scooted by him and into left field. Four in the first, one in the second, two in the third, two in the fifth. That’s a good day. Ubaldo was charged with seven runs in 2.1 innings. He went from a 3.29 ERA to a 3.81 in an afternoon.
My Hero Masahiro
Bah, that eighth inning ruined what was an otherwise dominant showing from Masahiro Tanaka. Both J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado swatted garbage time solo homers in the eighth, after the game was all but decided. (Chris Davis hit a solo homer way back in the second inning.) Homers are Tanaka’s only real bugaboo. As long as they’re solo shots though, it’s not the end of the world. Hope he gets that under control soon.
Anyway, Tanaka threw 7.2 innings, allowing just the three runs on four hits and no walks. He punched out seven. Tanaka retired 20 of the final 24 batters he faced after the Davis home run in the second, and one of the four base-runners was a routine fly ball Gardner lost in the sun and allowed to sail over his head. (It was ruled an error.) Between the Davis and Hardy homers, while the Yankees were extending their lead, Tanaka retired 18 of 20 batters.
All told, Tanaka threw 101 pitches, including 77 (!) for strikes. That includes a season-high 19 swings and misses. Only four of his 23 outs were recorded on fly balls to the outfield. Tanaka got five infield pops and five ground balls. He also caught a line drive flying towards his face. The garbage time homers are dumb, whatever, he was just pumping strikes in a blowout, but overall Tanaka was dominant. In complete command of the game.
Leftovers
Remember earlier this season when the Yankees couldn’t score if the top of the lineup didn’t do anything? The 6-7-8-9 hitters went a combined 9-for-12 (.750) in this game. Headley went 2-for-4 with a double, Gregorius and John Ryan Murphy both went 3-for-4, and Drew went 1-for-4 with a double. Murphy had a single off the third base bag and a single off the second base bag. Didn’t come close to getting one off the first base bag though. For shame.
Ellsbury, meanwhile, quietly finished a triple shy of the cycle. He went 3-for-4, drove in four runs and grounded out to the pitcher in his final at-bat. Ellsbury is the third Yankee to fall a triple shy of the cycle this season, joining Chris Young, Headley, and Teixeira. Don’t ask me why I looked that up. The 2-3-4 hitters went a combined 0-for-11 with five strikeouts. Go figure.
And finally, Chris Capuano recorded three outs after Tanaka. (Branden Pinder came in to get the 27th out because Joe Girardi didn’t want to not use his last pitching change … wait, what?) Including this game, Capuano has thrown only 5.2 innings and 88 pitches in the last calendar month. From fifth starter to seldom-used mop-up man.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Here are the box score and video highlights, and also the up to the minute standings. I guess I should start linking to the postseason odds too, huh? Might as well. Also make sure you check out our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages. They’re fun. Here’s the win probability graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The homestand is over and the Yankees are now heading out on a three-city, ten-game road trip. It starts Friday night in Minnesota, when Michael Pineda faced former Yankee Phil Hughes. Fun!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.