Luke Voit

New York Yankees: 3 Major takeaways from embarrassing loss to the Indians

by
New York Yankees, Luke Voit

If the New York Yankees were pleased with themselves after their shutout of the Indians on Friday night, they have to be at least equally embarrassed by the loss they suffered last night. In an ugly game with little Yankee hitting, the Yankees lost the second game 11-3 against the poor hitting Cleveland team. The Indians have only six other teams that hit less than they do.

Luis Gil’s secondary offerings didn’t cut it

Luis Gil has had some amazing starts for the Yankee’s while helping replace Cy Young Award winner Cory Kluber, but he has also had flashes of little control of his secondary pitches that have cost the Yankees. As manager Aaron Boone had said last night and before, Gil, although he may have a great future, right now he is not the finished product.

Gil started yesterday’s game great, striking out two in the first inning, but with his lack of control, the game was pretty much over by the time he was taken out of the game in the fifth inning. He had given up three runs and left two on base when he exited. Alber Abreu entered and couldn’t hold those remaining runners on base, allowing them to score and adding three runs of his own. At the close of the inning, it was 8-0 Yankees. The Yankees couldn’t recover from that deficit.

The offense came too little, too late

At the beginning of the seventh inning, the Yankees were scoreless, not able to do anything off Indian’s starter, Aaron Civale. But in the seventh inning, Giancarlo Stanton went deep off of Bryan Shaw for his 30th home run of the season. Luke Voit added a two-run homer of his own in the eight, but this was too little, too late to make any difference in the game’s outcome.

If the Yankees can reach the postseason, they have to correct a big problem they have had all season. And that was on full display yesterday. The Yankees can’t hit off of good pitching. They only beat up on poor pitchers and tired bullpens. In the postseason, you are only going to see great pitching that goes deep into games.

One thing the Yankees can do to improve that is to keep Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield daily; use Luke Voit, who may not be elite at first as the everyday DH; he is a better hitter with the potential of hitting more home runs than Anthony Rizzo, the better defender. They have got to play clean baseball and improve the consistency of their hitting.

Yankees slip out of the wild card yet again

The New York Yankees are in a very tight race to get a wild card spot with the Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. For nearly two weeks, the Yankees held that number one spot giving them the home-field advantage in that game. But, since then, they have slipped entirely out of the wild card, then back in and out yet again.

Yesterday their rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, both won their games. The Yankees lost and slipped back out of a wild card berth, looking in on their rivals. The last 13 games are so critical to the goal of playing in the wild card. It doesn’t appear that either of their rivals will be collapsing, so the Yankees must win at least the majority of the remaining games.

If they can’t do that, it will be a long cold winter of discontent spent examining all the things they could have done better instead of celebrating a long-awaited 28th World Championship.

 

 

 

 

New York Yankees Recap: Bronx Bombers turn into just bombed out in loss

by
luis gil, yankees

After pounding the Cleveland Indians last night in an 8-0 shut out the New York Yankees hoped to continue their powerful play by getting back their home advantage in the wild card and beating the Indians again to take the series. The Yankees had pitching sensation Luis Gill on the mound facing the Indians Aaron Civale. Gil was not good and the bullpen was sensationally worse. The Yankees lost 11-3.

Gill faced Myles Straw leading off for the Indians, who struck out for Gil’s first game strikeout. Oscar Mercado jumped on the first pitch for a double down the left-field line. Jose Ramirez ground out with Mercado moving to third. Franmil Reyes struck out to strand one. At the bottom, DJ LeMahieu led off for the Yankees and doubled to center. A pitch hit Luke Voit. With two on and no outs, Aaron Judge hit into a double play as DJ moved to third base. Stanton, with two outs and one on, lined out to right to end the inning. No score.

Harold Ramirez struck out. Yu Chang homered into the left-field stands. Owen Miller struck out. Austin Hedges flew out to right, but the Indians picked up a run. At the bottom, Joey Gallo led off by popping out to third. Gleyber Torres singled up the middle. Gary Sanchez went down looking. Brett Gardner at the plate Torres was caught stealing to end the inning. Cleveland Indians 1 Yankees 0.

To open the third inning, Andres Gimenez was at the plate and singled to left. Straw ground out with Gimenez moving to second. Mercado flew out to Gallo. Ramirez walked. Reyes, with two on and two outs, popped out to Urshela, stranding two. Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the third by striking out swinging. Gio Urshela popped out to second. LeMahieu flew out to right. Indians 1 Yankees 0.

The fourth inning was led off by H. Ramirez, who walked. Chang had an infield pop out. Miller walked. Hedges struck out swinging. Gimenez struck out. At the bottom, Voit was called out on strikes. Aaron Judge got a towering out to right. Stanton flew out to the warning track in right. Indians 1 Yankees 0.

The fifth inning was led off by Myles Straw, who lined out to Judge in right. Mercado popped out to Sanchez, but Sanchez dropped the ball; he ended up getting hit by a pitch. Ramirez walked. Reyes faced the new Yankee pitcher Albert Abreu and got an RBI double driving in Mercado with two on and one out. Ramirez was hit by a pitch for the second Indian hit by a pitch in the inning. Chang got a two-run double to right. Miller got an RBI single as the Indians were pouring it on. Hedges popped out to Sanchez. Gimenez, the 9th batter of the inning, hit a 3 run homer into the right-field stands. Straw ground out to finally end the inning that saw the Indians score 7 runs.

At the bottom of the fifth, Tyler Wade led off by striking out. Torres ground out to third. Sanchez singled to let field. Gardner lined out directly to Miller at second. Cleveland Indians 8 New York Yankees zero.

Mercado led off the sixth inning struck out. Ramirez doubled when LeMahieu tried to field his ground out but threw offline to a scoop up that Voit couldn’t make. Next up was Reyes, who hit a two-run homer into left. Ramirez flew out to left. Chang went down on strikes as the Indians tacked on another two runs. At the bottom,  Urshela led off and ground out to the pitcher. LeMahieu singled. Voit walked. Aaron Judge hit into his second double play of the game to end the inning. Indians 10 Yankees 0.

Miller led off the seventh by singling up the middle. Hedges flew out to center. Gimenez struck out. Straw singled, moving Miller to third. Mercado flew out to right. At the bottom, Stanton homered into the bullpen to put the Yankees on the board. Wade struck out. Torres popped out to first. Sanchez singled to left.  Gardner ground out to end the inning. Indians  10 New York Yankees 1.

The eighth inning was led off by Ramirez, who tacked on another homer. Reyes singled. Ramirez struck out. Chang flew out to left, and Miller struck out swinging. At the bottom Urshela ground out to short. LeMehieu walked. Voit hit a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole. Judge walked, Stanton flew out to deep center. Blake Parker was brought in to face the lefty, Wade. Wade got a single up the middle. Torres popped out to end the inning. Indians 11 Yankees 3.

Austin Hedges led off the top of the ninth against new Yankee pitcher Joely Rodriguez and ground back to J-Rod. Gimenez went down on strikes. Straw struck out. The Yankees entered the bottom of the inning with the impossible task of scoring at least 8 runs to tie the game and force it into extras. Gary Sanchez facing Emmanuel Clase, flew out to right. Gardner walked. Urshela struck out swinging. LeMahieu ground out to first to end the game.

The final score was the Cleveland Indians 11 and the New York Yankees 3. The winning pitcher was Aaron Civale, and the loser was Luis Gil.

 

 

 

 

New York Yankees: 3 Major takeaways from Yankees powerhouse win over the Orioles

by
New York Yankees, Michael King

The New York Yankees entered last night’s game with the Baltimore Orioles with an urgency to win over a team they should win over. The Yankees have a relatively easy next 9 games with the O’s, the Indians, and the Rangers. These are all games the Yankees should win before facing a difficult end of the season against the Red Sox, Jays, and Rays. They need to at least win these 3 upcoming series to stay in contention for a wild-card berth. Last night they took the first step toward that goal by besting the Orioles 7-2.

Gerrit Cole wasn’t great, but it didn’t matter

New York Yankee ace Gerrit Cole’s night did not start well. Cole had the luxury of first stepping to the mound with a two-run lead, but he almost blew it. Cedrick Mullins faced Cole and doubled to the left-field wall. Ryan Mountcastle popped out to first. Anthony Santander ground out, but Mullins advanced. Trey Mancini, with two outs and a man on third, walked. Austin Hays walked to load the bases. Ramon Urias struck out to get Cole out of a bases-loaded jam. New York Yankees 2 Orioles 0.

It was evident from the start that Cole did not have his best stuff working. After the first inning, Cole was pretty much what a Yankee ace is supposed to be. Cole managed five innings of shaky ball, giving up just one run, walking three while striking out seven Oriole’s batters. He lowered his ERA and got the win in the game. The only thing he didn’t accomplish was helping out the bullpen by going deep into the game. He had 108 pitches, 62 for strikes in his 5 innings of work.

The real Yankee pitching hero of the night was Michael King. With Cole only going 5 innings, it might have taken four or five relievers from an already overworked bullpen to close out the game. But King came in and pitched a brilliant three innings in relief, not allowing a single hit. Some might question why Aaron Boone did not allow King to close out the game as he was a stretched-out reliever with only 47 pitches. Boone brought in Sal Romano, who only lasted one out, giving up a run on two hits, requiring Boone to bring in Aroldis Chapman to close out the game.

Home runs power the Yankees

1-2-3-4-5, count ’em five home runs power the Yankees to a win in the first game of a 3 game set against the Baltimore Orioles. Aaron Judge started the power assault with a two-run homer in the first inning, driving in DJ LeMahieu. The third inning was devastating for Orioles’ starter Alexander Wells. Giancarlo Stanton stepped to the mound and crushed one into the left-field stands, scoring another two runs. To add insult to injury, Luke Voit then got a solo back-to-back shot, putting Wells into a five-run hole.

But the New York Yankees were not done. In the eighth inning, Joey Gallo got his 34th homer of the season. Finally, in the top of the ninth, DJ LeMahieu deposited a long ball into the left-field stands for his 10th homer of the season and giving the Yankees nine players with double-digit home runs.

Torres moved, but the same result

The New York Yankees rearranged the entire infield for one player, Gleyber Torres. The main reason was to relieve stress on Torres that they thought his excessive errors at short might be affecting his poor hitting behind the plate. Manager Boone even announced that the change would be for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, the experiment didn’t work. Torres possibly made his worst performance error at his new position when he bobbled an easy double-play ball.

Torres’s move to second also meant that Gold Glover DJ LeMahieu was moved off of second base to the hot corner. That move caused stellar third baseman Gio Urshela to move to shortstop. Both of these players proved earlier that they could handle their new positions. In the remaining days of the season, we will have to see how this experiment works out, but it didn’t look good for Torres last night.

Notes: Sal Romano earlier yesterday was awarded a Major League contract from the Yankees. The contract was worth $583K after earning just $47K in 2020. Luckily for the Yankees, the contract is for only one year. Last night on the first night of that contract Boone called him out to close the game, he pitched horribly lasting only 1/3 of an inning, requiring Chapman to close out the game.

Tonight the Yankees will face off with the Orioles in game two at Camden Yards. Nestor Cortes Jr. will be on the mound for the Yankees and John Means for the Orioles. The 7:05 pm EDT game will be televised on the YES Network and MASN.

New York Yankees Recap: Homers are king as Yankees win over the Orioles

by
New York Yankees, Aaron Judge

The New York Yankees entered a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles tonight at Camden Yards in Baltimore. After a win against the Minnesota Twins last night, the Yankees hoped to continue with another win tonight. The Yankees had a dramatic come-from-behind win, and that same energy was hoped to propel them to another winning streak against the Orioles, who will lose at least 110 games this season. Gerrit Cole was on the mound for the Yankees and Alexander Wells for the Orioles. The Yankees homered their way to a 7-2 win over the Orioles.

DJ LeMahieu led off the first with Wells on the mound and singled to left. Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer for his 34th of the year. Anthoney Rizzo singled to center. Giancarlo Stanton struck out swinging. Luke Voit lined out to short. Joey Gallo flew out to left, but the Yankees picked up two runs in the half. At the bottom, Cedrick Mullins faced Cole and doubled to the left-field wall. Ryan Mountcastle popped out to first. Anthony Santander ground out, but Mullins advanced. Trey Mancini, with two outs and a man on third, walked. Austin Hays walked to load the bases. Ramon Urias struck out to get Cole out of a bases-loaded jam. New York Yankees 2 Orioles 0.

At the top of the second inning, Gleyber Torres stuck out. Gio Urshela singled to right. Gary Sanchez flew out to right-center. Higashioka ground out to second. LeMahieu flew out to Mullins. At the bottom, Pedro Severino ground out. Pat Valaika ground out. The bottom was scoreless off of Cole. New York Yankees 2 Orioles 0.

In the third inning, Stanton, with one on, hit a two-run homer to left. Luke Voit followed him with a homer of his own, a solo shot for his 10th of the season. At the bottom, the Baltimore Orioles remained scoreless. New York Yankees 5 Orioles 0.

The Yankees had a scoreless fourth inning. DJ Stewart ground out to lead off the fourth inning. Austin Hays stuck out. Urias singled to Stanton in left field. Urias struck out. Pedro Severino ground out to end the inning. New York Yankees 5 Orioles 0.

Stanton, against new pitcher Erick Handhold in the fifth inning, singled up the middle. Voit ground out for a double play to left. . Joey Gallo ground out to center. Cole at the bottom faced Valaika, who got a single in front of Stanton in left. Gutierrez popped out to center. Mullins went down swinging. Mountcastle doubled down the left-field line to drive in Valaika, getting the Baltimore Orioles on the scoreboard. Santander walked on Cole’s 103rdd pitch. Stewart, with two on and two outs, stuck out to end the inning. New York Yankees 5 Orioles 1.

The sixth inning was led off by Gleyber Torres, who ground out to short. Urshela singled up the middle. Higashioka singled to right field. LeMahieu hit into a double play to end the half. Austin Hays led off the bottom against new Yankee pitcher Michael King and walked. Urias singled. Hay made second on a double bobble from Torres and Urshela. With two on and no outs, Severino hit into the double play with Hays moving to third. Valaika flew out to Stanton in left to keep the Orioles scoreless in the sixth. Yankees, 5 Orioles 1.

Aaron Judge led off the seventh inning by walking. Rizzo hit into a double play. Stanton walked. Brett Gardner was brought in to pinch-run for Stanton. Voit struck out on the 10th pitch at-bat. At the bottom, Gutierrez flew out to Gardner in left. Mullins lined out directly to Judge. Mountcastle went down swinging. Yankees 5 Orioles 1.

The eighth inning was led off by Joey Gallo, who homered to right-center. Torres gound out. Urshela flew out to right field. Higashioka flew out to left field to end the half. Anthony Santander led off the bottom by flying out to a running Aaron Judge in right. Stewart flew out to Gardner in left field. Hays struck out looking for a 1-2-3 inning for Michael King. Yankees 6 Orioles 1.

DJ LeMahieu led off the ninth inning for the Yankees and homered into the left-field stands. Judge ground out to third. Rizzo singled up the middle. After taking over for Stanton at left, Brett Gardner flew out to the warning track at center in his first at-bat. Voit flew out to right-center to end the half, but the Yankees picked up another run. At the bottom, with the last licks on the line, Urias facing Sal Romano foul tipped into Higashioka’s glove. Austin Wynns singled to right. Valaika walked. Gutierrez singled off Romano’s bare hand with two on and one out as Wynns scored, knocking Romano out of the game with an injured finger. Aroldis Chapman came in to face Mullins with one out and two on; he struck out. A wild pitch advanced the runners. Mountcastle struck out swinging.

The final score was the New York Yankees 7 and the Baltimore Orioles 6. The winning pitcher was Gerrit Cole, and the loser was Alexander Wells.

 

 

 

 

 

New York Yankees: Takeaways from a once in 100-year embarrassment

by
New York Yankees, Nestor Cortes Jr.

After losing 3 straight to the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees entered last night’s game with the hope of winning at least one game against the surging Canadian rival. The Yankees had Nestor Cortes Jr. on the mound pitted against the Jays’ Jose Berrios. It probably wasn’t a surprise to Yankees fans that they failed again. The Yankees lost the game 6-4.

Is Nasty Nestor tiring out?

Nasty Nestor is called that for his ability to be nasty in getting opponent hitters out. Cortes Jr. has been a Godsend for the New York Yankees ever since he took over for the injured Corey Kluber. But last night, cracks showed up in his armor. Right off the bat, he gave up a home run to Bo Bichette, who led off for the Jays and started with a Blue Jays lead with a massive homer to left field. Semien followed with a single to left. Right then and there, it seemed Cortes didn’t have his best stuff.

Nevertheless, Cortes gave the Yankees length going six innings and only giving up 2 earned runs. He struck out 5 and didn’t walk anyone. But a question arises going forward. Is Cortes tiring? Cortes has always been a reliever, pitching an inning or two every few days. But now that he is a starter, he is pitching more than in his entire career. Since the beginning of August, he has pitched over 40 innings. Pitching six or seven innings takes a lot more out of a pitcher than pitching just an inning or two, both physically and emotionally.

All this being said, in fairness to Cortes, giving up two runs over six innings more often than not will get you a win, but not with this Yankee team that gives little run support.

Too little too late

The Yankees bats, for the most part, have been dead over the last week or so. Last night was no different. Over the first eight innings, the Yankees only had an Anthony Rizzo home run and a couple of other hits. But in the ninth inning, the Yankees behind by 4 runs, the bats erupted. Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit, pinch-hitting hit back-to-back home runs. But it was too little too late as Urshela followed by striking out and ending the game with the Yankees’ sixth loss in a row.

Challenges build for banged-up rotation

If you wanted to overview the Yankees pitching situation, you would see a banged-up rotation and a bullpen that is spent. Although this is bad anytime during the season, it is especially concerning in the last weeks of the season as the New York Yankees are fighting to stay alive and play in the postseason.

Yankee fans found out last night that Jameson Taillon had an injured ankle tendon that will cause him to miss at least one start. He was put on the 10 day IL retroactive to September 7th. This is after Gerrit Cole left his game against the Blue Jays with hamstring tightness. He may also miss a start. Corey Kluber is back but very rusty after not pitching for three months.

With various starters not going deep into games and an ineffective closer in Aroldis Chapman, it has caused a once great bullpen to be totally overworked and tired out. So last night Sal Romano, a minor leaguer, was called up to shore up the pen. But, unfortunately, he took the loss for the Yankees.

 

 

 

New York Yankees Recap: Yankees swept by the Blue Jays, six losses in a row

by

This was the last game between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays tonight, and the Yankees hoped to capture a win and save being shut out in the series. The Yankees have lost all three of their games against the Jays and two losses from the Orioles for 5 straight losses when fighting to hold on to a wild card slot in the AL East. The Yankees pitted Nestor Cortes Jr. against Jose Berrios. Unfortunately, the Yankees lost the game 6-4 for their sixth consecutive loss.

Against Nestor Cortes Jr., Bo Bichette led off for the Jays and started with a Blue Jays led with a massive homer to left field. Semien followed with a single to left. Vlad Guerrero struck out on a high fastball. Teoscar Hernandez doubled, with Semien going to third. Alejandro Kirk flew out to Aaron Judge in right, and Semien didn’t challenge his throw. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went down looking, getting Cortes out of the inning, only giving up one run. At the bottom, Brett Gardner led off by walking. Aaron Judge hit into a force out as the ball went into the camera well. Anthony Rizzo flew out to the left-field foul territory. Giancarlo Stanton popped out to the infield. Blue Jays 1 Yankees 0.

The second inning was led off by Randal Crichuk, who flew out to Judge. Danny Jansen struck out. Kevin Smith also struck out to end the half. At the bottom, Gleyber Torres led off by grounding out to third. Joey Gallo flew out, and Sanchez flew out for an easy inning for Berrios. Jays 1 Yankees 0.

Bo Bichette led off the third inning by singling to left. Semien flew out to Judge in right. Guerrero hit into a double play to end the half. At the bottom, Tyler Wade ground out to first. Gio Urshela singled. Brett Gardner waved at a pitch for an out. Judge singled to right. Rizzo, with two on and two outs, grounded out, stranding two. Blue Jays 1 Yankees 0.

The fourth inning was led off by Hernandez, who lined out to Gardner. Kirk flew out to Gallo in far left. Gurriel flew out to Rizzo. At the bottom, Stanton was out; as he tried to reach a  double, he hit to left. Torres struck out swinging. Gallo went down swinging to end the inning. Blue Jays 1 Yankees 0.

Randal Grichuk led off the fifth inning went yard into the left-field stands. Jansen flew out to Judge in right. Smith ground out to Urshela, who made the catch of the rocket look easy. Bichette went down on strikes to end the half, but the Jays tacked on a run. At the bottom, Sanchez advanced when he was hit by pitch. Wade struck out swinging. Urshela hit into a double play to end the inning. Blue Jays 2 Yankees 0.

Marcus Semien led off the sixth inning by skying one to the infield for the first out. Guerrero flew out to left. Hernandez hit one off of Cortes that bounced into the center for a single. Kirk grounded out on Cortes’s 103rd pitch. At the bottom, the top of the lineup for the Yankees was up. Gardner flew out to the left-field wall. Judge singled. Rizzo got a two-run home run into the right-field stands. Stanton ground out. Torres went down on strikes, but the Yankees tied the game. New York Yankees 2 Blue Jays 2.

The seventh inning was led off against new Yankee pitcher Sal Romano by grounding out to second base. Grichuk struck out on a Romano slider. Jansen got a double off the left-field wall. Jake Lamb pinch-hitting for Smith was hit by a pitch. Bichette singled driving in Jansen. Semien walked to load the bases. Guerrero faced the new Yankees pitcher Wandy Peralta and struck out, leaving the bases loaded. At the bottom, Gallo walked. Sanchez went down on strikes. Wade struck out swinging. Urshela facing new pitcher Joakim Soria struck out. Blue Jays 3 New York Yankees 2.

Hernandez led off the eighth inning by striking out. The Yankees were scoreless in the eighth, although the Blue Jays picked up another run. Blue Jays 4 and the Yankees 2.

In the top of the ninth against Chad Green Guerrero Jr. homered into the center-field stands. Hernandez singled. Valera doubled driving in Hernandez. Gurriel singled. Dyson came in to pinch run for Gurriel. Crichuk struck out. Jansen went down on strikes, but the Blue Jays picked up another two runs. At the bottom, with the game on the line, Torres led off and flew out to center. Gallo struck out looking. Sanchez homered just inside the left-field foul pole. Luke Voit pinch-hitting for Wade followed with another home run. Gio Urshela struck out to end the game and give the Yankees their sixth loss in a row. It was also the first time since 1908 that the Yankees have lost a series without ever leading the series at Yankee Stadium.

The final score was the Toronto Blue Jays 6 and the New York Yankees 4. The winning pitcher was Jose Berrios, and the loser was Sal Romano.

 

New York Yankees: 3 Takeaways from Cole’s brilliant win ending the skid

by
yankees, gerrit cole

The New York Yankees entered last night’s final game with the Los Angeles Angels after losing four straight games with the hope of righting the ship with Yankee ace Gerrit Cole on the mound facing the inexperienced Packy Naughton. Instead, to the delight of Yankee fans everywhere, Cole had one of his best games since becoming a Yankee getting a season-high 15 strikeouts and winning the game 4-1 to stop the Yankee slid.

Cole wins with a season-high 15 strikeouts

Yankee ace Gerrit Cole took to the mound last night, seemingly with a chip on his shoulder. He was immediately dominant with all of his pitches working. At the end of seven innings of work, he amassed 15 strikeouts, a season-high and only for the fourth time in his career. He got 32 swings and misses as he stopped the Yankee’s skid of losing four games in a row for the 4-1 win, his 14th of the season.

For Cole, it was a homecoming of sorts; it was the first time as a Yankee that he returned home to pitch a game. Cole grew up just 15 miles north of Angel’s statement. Reports are the Cole even drove his beat-up 2006 Toyota Tacoma to the stadium. With a multitude of ticket requests from family and friends, the stands were filled with familiars to impress, and that he did.

“It’s a special day,” Cole said. “It’s always a nice time to come out and see some people back where you’re from. Any player, any person can relate to that. There was a little bit of intensity, trying not to get swept on the road. To do it in front of my family is a cherry on top.”

After his seven innings of work Cole let loose of his game face, banged his fist in his glove, and pointed approvingly to his personal catcher Kyle Higashioka. The last out of the night was a perfect slider that he blew past the Angel’s Max Stassi. Cole in the game permitted just one run without a walk in the game for his highest strikeout total since being acquired by the Yankees in December of 2019.

Cole was helped out in the game by Luke Voit’s two-run single and further supported by Brett Gardner’s run-scoring hit that knocked out Angel starter Packy Naughton from the game. Later in the game, the very hot Aaron Judge racked up some insurance with his 30th home run of the season, a solo shot in the eighth inning.

Is the winning slid over?

The New York Yankee fans have been perplexed by the team’s recent play. The Yankees, after a poor start of the season in the first half, had become baseball’s most winning team since July 17th winning and winning more, at one point 13 straight wins, but then a disappointing 4 game losing stretch that set them back in the AL East. During the consecutive wins, the Tampa Bay Rays only lost 2 games. With the Yankees losing 4 in a row, the Yankees actually dropped two games in the East. Now with the Rays losing last night and the Yankees win, the Yankees picked up a game.

Today is a day of rest for the Yankees, but tomorrow they start a weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles, a team they should do well over, if not sweeping them. They will then move on to a tough series with the Blue Jays; then it gets easier playing the New York Mets and the Orioles again. Again, the Yankees should do well over this stretch. Meanwhile, the Rays face the Twins, Boston again, and the Detroit Tigers, so the standings probably won’t change much.

What are the upcoming roster moves?

As of yesterday, the New York Yankees and all MLB teams could add an additional 2 players to their rosters. However, those moves for the Yankees remain unclear. So let’s get this out of the way right away; the Yankees will likely not see the return of Clint Frazier, Miguel Andujar, Daren O’Day, Zack Britton, or Domingo German during the remains of this season.

Beyond then, there are only questions. We do know that Gleyber Torres will be returning to the team for the Orioles series. Going into the postseason, the Yankees will need pitching. With Albert Abreu sent down to Scranton, the Yankees will most likely look to Michael King or Luis Gil to fill a spot, maybe both. If Luis Severino returns even in a bullpen position, it will likely be the last we see of shortstop Andrew Velazquez. Everything remains fluid.

 

 

New York Yankees homer their way to 13 consecutive wins

by
New York Yankees, Giancarlo Stanton

Last night the New York Yankees entered Oakland Coliseum hoping for a historic night and winning their 13th game in a row. It was the second game of a four-game set between the Yankees and the Oakland Athletics. Yankee ace Gerrit Cole was on the mound for the Yankees, and Sean Manaea for the Athletics. The Yankees got that 13th win by putting down the Athletics 8-2.

Yankees homer to their 13th consecutive win

The New York Yankees got 4 home runs last night, resulting in seven of the eight runs scored last night at Oakland Coliseum that gave the Yankees their 13th consecutive win, a historic night that was only matched by the 13 wins in 1961. The Yankees had 14 hits in the game. The home run barrage started in the fourth inning when Giancarlo Stanton hit a long ball 472 feet into the 2nd deck of the centerfield stands in the massive Oakland Coliseum. After Joey Gallo struck out, Luke Voit followed with his solo home run.

In the fifth inning, with Higashioka and LeMahieu on base Aaron Judge came to the plate and hit a massive three-run homer putting the Yankees up by five runs. But it was in the ninth that the Yankees put the Athletics away. The inning was led off by Velazquez, who doubled to the center-field wall. Higashioka homered to center. LeMahieu singled. Rizzo singled. Judge singled driving in LeMahieu.

Giancarlo Stanton is on fire

Giancarlo Stanton has been mostly healthy this year, only missing 21 games due to days off and a stint on the IL for a strained quad. Stanton had played in only 41 combined games between 2019 and 2020. He has now played 107 games this season. Stanton has proven before that if he is healthy, he is a force to be contended with. Last night he hit a monster home run 472′ into the Oakland sky that ended up in the second deck of the Oakland Coliseum.

Last night’s homer was his fourth in as many games, one in each of the Yankees road trip games starting in Atlanta. He is the only player in baseball to hit nine home runs registering at over 470′. He now has 24 home runs on the season, hitting safely in 19 of 25 games in August.

Cole gets 200th strikeout of the season

Last night Gerrit Cole the Yankee ace, got his league-leading 13th win of the season. He had all of his pitches working and gave the Yankees length saving the bullpen. He went six full innings. He reached a milestone of getting his 200th strikeout of the season, which leads all AL pitchers. He also leads the league with 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings. In all of baseball, only Zack Wheeler of the Phillies has 4 more, but Cole has more per game, as Wheeler did it in 26 games, while Cole attained his in 24 starts due to time on the Covid list.

 

New York Yankee Recap: Yankees get historic 13th win, Athletics go down again

by
yankees, gerrit cole

Last night the New York Yankees entered Oakland Coliseum hoping for a historic night and winning their 13th game in a row. It was the second game of a four-game set between the Yankees and the Oakland Athletics. Yankee ace Gerrit Cole was on the mound for the Yankees, and Sean Manaea for the Athletics. The Yankees got that 13th win by putting down the Athletics 8-2.

DJ LeMahieu led off for the Yankees by grounding out. Anthony Rizzo ground out to second for the second out. Then, Aaron Judge got a sharply hit single to right field. Giancarlo Stanton followed by getting a base hit to left moving Judge to second. Joey Gallo, with two on and two outs, went down on strikes leaving two on base. At the bottom, Tony Kemp faced Gerrit Cole and looped one into center for a single. Starling Marte ground out to third. Matt Olsen struck out. Jed Lowrie flew out to Gallo in left to end the inning. No score.

At the top of the second, Luke Voit led off but was hit by a pitch. Gio Urshela went down on strikes. Andrew Velazquez went down looking. Kyle Higashioka ground out sharply to third. At the bottom, Josh Harrison ground out. Matt Chapman ground out to Urshela. Mark Canha singled. Sean Murphy ground out to end the inning. No score.

LeMahieu led off the third, popping out to shallow center. Rizzo ground out to short. Judge went down on strikes. Elvis Andrus led off the bottom by popped to Rizzo. Kemp flew out to Judge on the warning track. Marte singled out to left. Olsen was out when he couldn’t hold up. No score.

Stanton led the fourth inning, who hit a 472′ homer to center to give the Yankees the lead. Gallo stuck out. Voit homered. Urshela ground out to right-center. Velazquez ground out, but the Yankees picked up two runs. At the bottom, Lowrie struck out swinging. Harrison doubled over Judge’s head and off the wall. Chapman walked. Canha struck out. Murphy struck out. New York Yankees 2 Oakland Athletics 0.

Andrew Velazquez led off the fifth inning by singling to far left; Higgy thought about a two-bagger but held up at first. LeMahieu singled, moving Higgy to second. Rizzo ground out. With two on and one out, Judge got a three-run homer knocking Manaea out of the game. The new A’s pitcher Deolis Guerra faced Stanton, who flew out to left. Gallo doubled off the center-field wall. Voit struck out to end the half, but the Yankees picked up 3 more runs. At the bottom, Andrus led off by singling up the middle. Kemp also singled up the middle. Marte popped out to Rizzo in foul territory. Olsen walked to load the bases. Lowrie, with one out and the bases, loaded struck out. Harrison lined directly to Urshela, who made a great catch to get Cole out of the jam. New York Yankees 5 Athletics 0.

The sixth inning was led off by Urshela, who flew out to right. Velazquez flew out to deep rigth. Higashioka ground out to short to end the half. Cole out for the sixth inning faced Chapman, who went down on strikes. Canha stuck out. Murphy struck out to end the inning while Cole got his 200th strikeout of the season. Yankees 5 Athletics 0.

AJ Puk came out to pitch the seventh inning. LeMahieu ground out to short. Rizzo singled to center. Judge flew out to center. Stanton ground out to short to end the half. At the bottom, Andrus faced new Yankee pitcher Joely Rodriguez and flew out to Gardner in center.  Chad Pinter pinch hit for Kemp and walked. Marte singled to beyond short. Olsen doubled, bringing two Athletic runs. Lowrie faced Chad Green and walked. Harrison hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. Yankees 5 Athletics 2.

The eighth inning was led off by Gallo, who went down looking. Voit also went down looking. Urshela flew out to right. At the bottom, Chapman went down on strikes. Canha struck out. Murphy also stuck out for Green’s strikeout of the side. Yankees 5 Athletics 2.

The ninth inning was led off by Velazquez, who doubled to the center-field wall. Higashioka homered to center. LeMahieu singled. Rizzo singled. Judge singled driving in LeMahieu. Gardner in for Stanton and flew out. Gallo reached on a fielder’s choice with Rizzo going to third. Voit ground into a force out to end the half. With last licks on the line for the Athletics, Andrus faced Lucas Luetge, the Yankee closer of the night, and struck out looking on a massive curve by Luetge. Pinder flew out to Gallo in left. Marte struck out looking, and the Yankees got their 13th consecutive win.

The final score was the New York Yankees 8 and the Oakland Athletics 2. The winning pitcher was Gerrit Cole and the loser was Sean Manaea.

Yankees News, 8/21: Gardner injury, Nestor Cortes a shining star, Luke Voit demands attention

by
yankees

The New York Yankees have won eight consecutive games, plastering the Minnesota Twins with 10 runs on Friday evening. With Nestor Cortes Jr. starting on the mound, he lasted 7.0 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out seven batters. On the season, Cortes hosts a 2.56 ERA, displaying one of the most surprising performances of the season. The Yankees have desperately needed more starting pitching talent with several players working their way back from injury, and Cortes offered that and much more.

However, outfielder Brett Gardner picked up an elbow injury after being plunked with a pitch late in the game. While skipper Aaron Boone doesn’t believe it is anything serious, they will be cautious with a veteran.

“It stiffened up on him pretty good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll see how he’s doing overnight into the morning.”

“Just wanted to get him out of there, get some treatment, get some ice going,” Boone said. “Hopefully it’s something that he’s back quickly.”

Gardner has struggled this season, hitting .215, but did pick up two hits before leaving the game. Luckily, the offense was on fire. DJ LeMahieu recorded two hits, and Luke Voit contributed four. They combined for six RBIs, helping inch the Bombers closer in the AL East.

Voit, who recently demanded he stay with the top team despite the existence of Anthony Rizzo, has been on a massive hitting streak lately. Over his last seven days, Voit has 11 hits over 26 at-bats, including 11 RBIs and three homers. On the season, he’s hitting .260 with seven homers and 26 RBIs, playing in just 41 games. The reemergence of Voit has helped spark the Yankees’ offense, and he has proved his worth, which will ultimately force Boone to keep him in the lineup one way or another.

The Yankees currently sit 4.0 games back of the AL East, as they quickly gain ground on the Tampa Bay Rays. They have built a nice 1.5 game cushion in the Wild Card over the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay has a tough series against the Chicago White Sox, losing their first 7–5 on Friday.