That series went pretty darn well. The Yankees took three of four from the White Sox this weekend thanks to Sunday afternoon’s 6-1 win. The offense broke out in the late innings and the pitching staff did a wonderful job for the second day in a row.
Early Opportunities
The Yankees had runners on base in every single inning against Erik Johnson except the fifth yet scored just one run, and they needed two errors to get that much. Jacoby Ellsbury drew a walk to leadoff the first, then Brett Gardner and Carlos Beltran reached on errors towards first base. They both hit grounders to Jose Abreu, who bobbled the ball, then botched the flip to the pitcher. Abreu was charged with both errors.
The walk and two errors loaded the bases with no outs, though the Yankees scored just one run on a Brian McCann sacrifice fly. Greg Bird struck out and Dustin Ackley was robbed of a two-run extra-base hit by J.B. Shuck in the right-center field gap. It was a great running catch. I didn’t think Shuck had any chance to run that ball down — I thought it was gone off the bat, actually — yet he made the catch at full speed. No dive necessary.
The following innings brought more opportunities but no more runs. There was a single in the second inning, two singles and a hit batsman in the third, and then a double and a walk in the fourth. None of those rallies led to runs. A mix of strikeouts and popups and even a caught stealing short-circuited the offense. It was … frustrating. The Yankees have been letting too run-scoring chances slip by of late.
Severino and the Double Plays
Precocious right-hander Luis Severino tossed six scoreless innings against the White Sox on Sunday despite having only one 1-2-3 inning. That was the third. Severino benefited from four double plays. Abreu singled in the first and was erased on Melky Cabrera’s 6-6-3 double play. An error in the second — Severino missed the flip on a grounder to first — was erased on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play. Those are my favorite.
A 3-6-1 double play in the fourth helped Severino escape a jam after allowing back-to-back singles to start the frame. Severino did a great job stretching and making the scoop on the play. It was Teixeira-esque. With runners on first and third with one out in the fifth, Melky banged into another 6-6-3 double play to end the threat. Severino put some runners on base but was impressively able to bear down to make the pitches he needed. Lots of young pitchers would have let those situations spiral out of control.
All told, Severino allowed four singles, a double, and a walk in his six innings. He also made the error to allow another base-runner. Severino only struck out two — he only has five strikeouts in his last two starts (13.5%) — but did get 12 of his other 16 outs on the ground. That includes the double plays. Works for me. Outside of that one disaster start against the Blue Jays, Severino’s been pretty awesome. Couldn’t ask for anything more from the kid.
Insurance Runs!
A wild second run appeared in the sixth inning courtesy of Ackley’s leadoff home run into the second deck in right. He had that near double off Johnson in the first inning and was able to get another good swing against him in the sixth. The Yankees were winning at the time, but yeah, more runs were appreciated. Ackley continues to be pretty awesome in his new role as Not Stephen Drew.
The Yankees managed to score another run that inning thanks to back-to-back singles (Slade Heathcott and Brendan Ryan), a walk (Gardner), and a wild pitch. A good ol’ manufactured run. They scored their first run without the benefit of a hit and their third run scored on a wild pitch. Given how much the Yankees have been struggled to score runs of late — they came into Saturday having scored seven runs in his last four games — I’ll take ’em any way they come.
Two more runs scored in the eighth inning after Beltran started the rally with a leadoff single off the wall. One of those “he hit it so hard it was only a single” jobs. Pinch-runner Rico Noel made it all the way to third when Daniel Webb threw away a pickoff throw, then Bird singled him in for the team’s fifth run. A Chase Headley double, a Didi Gregorius walk, and a Heathcott sacrifice fly created run No. 6.
Leftovers
The Yankees went 3-for-19 (!) with runners in scoring position. One of the hits didn’t score a run either. That was Alex Rodriguez’s pinch-hit infield single the seventh. I have no idea how to look it up, but the Yankees have to lead MLB in hits with runners in scoring position that don’t actually score a run. Ellsbury followed that with a single to left to score the team’s fourth run.
With the Yankees up three runs after six, Joe Girardi went to his usual late-inning relievers. Justin Wilson allowed a solo homer to pinch-hitter to Avisail Garcia in an otherwise perfect seventh inning. Dellin Betances pitched around a two-out double with a 4-1 lead in the eighth — his first 14 pitches were fastballs, which is unusual for Dellin — and Bryan Mitchell mopped things up with a 6-1 lead in the ninth.
Believe it or not, the Yankees had 13 hits in the game. Every starter had one except McCann, who drove in the first run with the sac fly. Ellsbury, Bird, and Heathcott each had two hits. Ten of the final 17 batters they sent to the plate reached base. That’s much more like it.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Here are the box score, video highlights, updated standings, and postseason odds. The magic number to clinch a postseason spot is three and the tragic number in the AL East is four. Here are our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages, and here’s the win probability graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The Red Sox are coming to the Bronx for the final home series of the regular season. Ivan Nova and Eduardo Rodriguez will be the pitching matchup Monday night. Head over to RAB Tickets if you want to catch that game or any of the other three remaining home games live at Yankee Stadium.
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