There are games where the offense does a pretty good job and there are ones where it absolutely explodes, and then some. Tonight falls into the latter category. After Chris Capuano gave up five runs in the first inning, the Yanks scored eleven in the second and, well, scored ten more later. The Yankees scored 21 runs in total and two relievers – Diego Moreno and Adam Warren – allowed zero hits after Capuano got knocked out.
Capuanope
Not all of us were optimistic when Joe Girardi announced Capuano would start tonight’s game. The result? Pretty, pretty bad. Capuano did not complete the first inning, walked five, allowed five earned runs, and got knocked out of the game with two outs and bases loaded after walking in a run. Yeesh. You would think that, because he had a decent 2014 showing, Capuano still has something left as a spot starter but … definitely not tonight.
After tonight’s start, the lefty has an ugly 6.97 ERA in 31.0 IP. That’s like, not ML roster-worthy at all. Not sure how long he’ll stick after tonight’s start, but fortunately for the Yanks, the offense dominated in Arlington.
Got the runs going up … on a Tuesday
It’d be excruciatingly long to summarize everything that happened in the top of the second so I’ll just leave this right here:
| Martin Perez pitching for Texas | NYY | TEX |
|---|---|---|
| Young doubled to left. | 0 | 5 |
| Headley singled to center, Young scored. | 1 | 5 |
| Murphy singled to left, Headley to second. | 1 | 5 |
| Gregorius hit by pitch, Headley to third, Murphy to second. | 1 | 5 |
| Ryan doubled to right center, Headley and Murphy scored, Gregorius to third. | 3 | 5 |
| Ellsbury singled to center, Gregorius scored, Ryan to third. | 4 | 5 |
| Gardner singled to center, Ryan scored, Ellsbury to second. | 5 | 5 |
| Rodriguez doubled to deep left, Ellsbury scored, Gardner to third. | 6 | 5 |
| Rodríguez relieved Pérez. | 6 | 5 |
| Teixeira struck out swinging. | 6 | 5 |
| Young walked. | 6 | 5 |
| Headley singled to left, Gardner scored, Rodriguez to third, Young to second. | 7 | 5 |
| Murphy struck out swinging. | 7 | 5 |
| Gregorius tripled to deep left center, Rodriguez, Young and Headley scored. | 10 | 5 |
| Ryan doubled to deep left, Gregorius scored. | 11 | 5 |
| Ellsbury struck out swinging. | 11 | 5 |
| 11 Runs, 10 Hits, 0 Error | ||
Several things to note here. First, the Yankees started with eight consecutive baserunners. Eight! Second, all the outs were via swinging strikeouts, which is kind of odd considering how well the bats were squaring thing up, but baseball is weird. Third, who else would it be besides Brendan Ryan to have two extra-base hits in the same inning? Oh man, this was pretty fun to watch. The inning started with hopes to chip away piece by piece to eventually tie it up, but the Yankees totally destroyed Martin Perez and took a huge lead.
Also, geez, Perez looked decent in the first inning but had basically nothing working on in second. You thought Capuano’s game score of 21 is bad? (Well, it is actually pretty horrid) Perez has 8. So that’s that.
At 11-5, the Yankees offense was far from done. In the top of third, New York quickly loaded the bases without an out against Wandy Rodriguez on two singles and a walk. Chris Young, who has killed lefties all season, hit one on the screws for a grand slam. 15-5 Yankees with no out in the third. Wowza.
5.1 no-hit innings
How about Diego Moreno? The guy had toiled in minors since 2009, came over to New York as a part of the A.J. Burnett deal, and made his ML debut in June as a 27-year old. Now, as a 28-year old rookie (his birthday was a week ago), he fired 5.1 no-hit innings and saved a lot of bullpen arms from being used tonight.
Moreno is known for his big arm but he had a lot more than velocity going tonight. He went after hitters, generated swings-and-misses with his heat and secondary pitches, and, of course, located very well. The only baserunner he allowed was Shin-Soo Choo, who walked in the third. When it was all said and done, Moreno exited the game with a line of 5.1 IP, 0 H, 1 BB and 5 K’s. Pretty nice. Tonight’s performance should earn him at least few more looks up in the majors.
More runs!
In the top fourth, with runners on corners and two outs, Phil Klein induced a grounder from Chris Young and it seemed like the Rangers were actually getting out of the inning without any runs allowed … then Elvis Andrus couldn’t come up with the play. The ball hit the heel of his glove and everybody was safe. Oh, and Brett Gardner scored. 16-5 Yankees.
Top sixth, Spencer Patton replaced Klein on the mound. Gardner walked to lead off. Klein struck out A-Rod but hit Mark Teixeira on the right foot. With one out and runners on first and second, Chris Young drilled a mammoth double to left to score Gardner. 17-5 Yanks. At this point (or way before), it was pretty silly. But John Ryan Murphy joined the fun in the inning by driving in both runners with an RBI single. 19-5!
Well, you know what tends to happen when a team happens colossal amount of runs – the other team lets a position player pitch! The Rangers brought in the infielder Adam Rosales for their mound in the ninth. For a guy who just seemed to be lobbing the ball to plate, he had a decent velocity – reaching 91 mph in the FS1 gun. But that didn’t stop Gardner from hitting a big two-run homer to extend the lead 21-5.
Leftovers
Didi Gregorius had a pretty big game. He went 4-for-5, setting a career high in hits in a game. His batting average is now up to .257, which is pretty nice considering 1) he’s a shortstop 2) he was in the early-.200’s for a good chunk of the first months of the season. Great to see Didi showing some good bat as the season goes on.
Buried under Moreno’s brilliance tonight was Adam Warren’s performance. In fact, Warren threw three perfect innings. His line is as clean as it can get: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. He came into the game in the seventh inning and closed it out as well. Also, he got a save! The first of the season for him!
Box score, standings, highlights, WPA
Here’s tonight’s box score, updated standings, video highlights and WPA.
Source: FanGraphs
You could hypothetically expect less runs tomorrow based on the starters – Masahiro Tanaka and Colby Lewis – but you never know, baseball is weird. Yankees play again at 8:05 PM EST tomorrow. We’ll see how fun this one gets.
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