In what Joe Girardi called “probably the most important game of the season,” the Yankees came out and took control of Sunday’s series finale early against the Orioles. They won 5-2 to salvage the series. The Yankees went 7-5 during this 12-game stretch against the Mariners, Royals, and Orioles, three teams they’re competing against for the second wildcard spot.
Three Early Runs
The Yankees were not only shut out Friday and Saturday, they were also shut out by the Orioles last Sunday at Yankee Stadium as well. They hadn’t scored a run against the O’s in 27 innings. Twenty-seven innings! Yikes. And they very nearly blew a run-scoring opportunity in the first inning too. Brett Gardner and Rob Refsnyder started the game with walks, but Gary Sanchez and Starlin Castro followed with strikeouts against Wade Miley. Sigh.
After the last two games it was easy to assume the worst as soon as Sanchez and Castro struck out. They’ve been the team’s two hottest hitters the last four weeks or so. Miley is pretty terrible though, so not all hope was lost. Chase Headley was able to get a run home with a little jam shot bloop to shallow left, then a wild Austin Romine appeared with a well-placed ground ball through the left side of the infield …
… to score two more runs. Phew. The Yankees went from being on the verge of wasting a rally to scoring their first three runs of the weekend in the span of six pitches. Headley’s two-out infield single — Chris Davis failed to make the scoop on Manny Machado’s spinning throw — in the third inning gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead. Refsnyder singled to start the frame, moved to second on Sanchez’s walk, then moved to third on Castro’s double play.
A Grind For Pineda
You could tell right away this game was going to be a tough one for Michael Pineda. The first three batters of the game made solid contact — Adam Jones and Machado sandwiched singles around Pedro Alvarez’s line out — and Pineda had to work hard to strike out Mark Trumbo and Davis to strand the runners. He then started the second inning by walking Steve Pearce after jumping ahead in the count 0-2. Blargh.
Pineda’s only 1-2-3 inning was the third. He put the leadoff man on base in every other inning. By my unofficial count, he threw 54 of his 87 pitches from the stretch, or 62%. I have no idea what the league average is, but 62% seems bad. Pineda finally allowed a run in the third after Trumbo walked and Davis singled with no outs. Pearce hit a grounder to Headley at third, and while it looked like he could have gone home, he opted for the 5-4-3 double play. Unfortunately the ball was hit a little too weakly and Pearce beat it out at first.
With a four-run lead and the Orioles very capable of hitting the ball out of the park, I’m totally cool with going for the double play there. The Yankees did everything perfectly — Headley fired the ball to second and Castro’s turn was quick — yet Pearce beat it by about half-a-step. It happens. Even if Headley cuts the runner down at the plate, Pineda’s looking at two on with one out, and that’s scary. Try to avoid the big inning. A Jones single and an Alvarez run-scoring double ended Pineda’s afternoon in the fifth inning.
The total damage: two runs on five hits (four singles, one double) and two walks in four innings plus two batters. Pineda did strike out four, including three with runners in scoring position. It was not a great start, but you know what? We’ve seen several Pineda starts like this one blow up and get out of hand. This one didn’t. He got some key strikeouts and Joe Girardi’s appropriately short leash limited the damage.
Five Innings From The Bullpen
As soon at it became clear the Yankees would use Severino in relief in September, I think we all kind of assumed he would step in as the guy who bridged the gap between the starter and the usual late-inning relievers. If that means throwing two or three innings, fine. Severino was starting in Triple-A and is stretched out, so he’s good for multiple innings. A multi-inning fireman is a really nice weapon.
Severino was brought in to put out the fire in the fifth inning, after the double by Alvarez scored a run. Girardi summoned the young right-hander to face the middle of the O’s lineup with a runner at second and the tying run at the plate. The save stat is kinda stupid. Severino was asked to get the three biggest outs of the afternoon in that fifth inning. That was a save situation. He had to protect the lead against the middle of the lineup.
It was not the prettiest inning — Severino went to a 3-2 count on Machado, Trumbo, and Davis — but the end result was minimal contact and no runs allowed. Severino struck out Machado, walked Trumbo, walked Davis to load the bases, then struck out Pearce for the second out of the inning. Yeesh. Thankfully Matt Wieters rolled over on a ground ball the end the threat. Severino’s 24th pitch was the first one the Orioles put in play.
The Yankees were nursing a 4-2 lead and they still had 12 outs to go. Severino went back out for the sixth, retired the side in order, then gave way to Tommy Layne for the left-on-left matchup against Alvarez leading off the seventh. Layne got Alvarez and Adam Warren got Machado and Trumbo. Davis led off the eighth with a single literally off Tyler Clippard; it looked like it hit him in the back or triceps. I’m not sure. Either way, he stayed in the game.
Clippard was able to fan both Pearce and Wieters before Dellin Betances came in for the stress-free four-out save. Two strikeouts, a soft grounder, and a hard-hit fly ball Jacoby Ellsbury ran down. All told, five relievers combined to hold the O’s to one hit and two walks in five innings, and the one hit was the infield single that hit Clippard. Severino, Clippard, and Betances each fanned a pair. The bullpen came up huge a few times on the this road trip and they did it again Sunday afternoon.
Leftovers
The Yankees scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth thanks largely to Mark Trumbo, who is not a right fielder but plays one on TV. He misplayed a Tyler Austin fly ball into a two-base error — I think Trumbo might have lost it in the sun, though he did get some leather on it — and Austin came around to score after a bunt (Ronald Torreyes) and a sac fly (Gardner). That gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead.
Headley was the only player on the roster with multiple hits. Refsnyder, Romine, Austin, and Aaron Judge had one each. The Yankees drew a whopping seven walks as a team, though only two came around to score. Gardner and Sanchez had two each. Seven walks is not a season-high but the Yankees have only had one game with more; they drew eight against the Indians last month.
Obscure stat alert: the Yankees now have three players with eight saves for the first time in franchise history. Betances, who is 8-for-9 in save chances since taking over as closer, joins Andrew Miller (nine) and Aroldis Chapman (20) in the team’s 8+ saves club. Those three have 38 of the team’s 40 saves in 2016. Chasen Shreve and Chad Green have the other two. You knew that, I’m sure.
And finally, Severino’s two innings and 38 pitches of relief almost certainly take him out of the running for Wednesday’s start in place of the injured Green. Bryan Mitchell lines up to start that day, though I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees went with an old school bullpen game now that rosters have expanded. We’ll see.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Head on over to ESPN for the box score and updated standings, and MLB.com for the video highlights. Don’t miss our Bullpen Workload and Announcer Standings pages either. The Yankees are now 3.5 games back of the second wildcard spot with 27 games to play. Here’s the win probably graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The road trip is over and the Yankees are heading home for a ten-game homestand. It’s the second-to-last homestand of the year, you know. Ten games at home, eleven on the road, six at home. That’s it. That’s all that’s left. Masahiro Tanaka and R.A. Dickey will be on the mound in Monday’s series opener against the Blue Jays. That’s a 1pm ET start. Labor Day matinee. RAB Tickets can get you in the door for that game or any of the other 15 home games left on the schedule.
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