As this season has started to wind down, with the Yankees slowing up their torrid pace and other teams speeding up the pace, the AL East is really starting to heat up. With the way the Yankees were playing in the first half of the season, most thought they would run away with the division. However, after a slew of injuries and costly mistakes in critical games, they have found themselves only 5 games ahead of surging the surging Toronto Blue Jays team.
The Yankees have found life again in the likes of bullpen pitchers Jonathan Loaisiga, Lou Trivino and Ron Marinaccio. Collectively over the last week, this trio has pitched for a combined 6 IP, 2 ER, and 11 SO. Bullpen stability has been key with such an inconsistent offense. One that can explode for serious offensive numbers, but then struggle to string hits together at the drop of a hat. Over the course of the past week, they have had some severe ups and downs with their consistency of creating an offense that scores. Highlights over the week include a 14 strikeout performance by Gerrit Cole against the Minnesota Twins and a multi-home run game by Gleyber Torres in a victory opposing the Tampa Bay Rays.
Wednesday, September 7 brought on a lot of good signs for the Yankees. The game on the day prior was postponed due to inclement weather, thus they moved the game to the 7th. The day ended up being very productive for the Yankees. They came out with two for the win column and hit for a collective 15 hits and 12 runs for the day.
Game 1 was met with a quality start from Domingo Germain who dealt for six innings of three-run ball. Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres also added home runs to their record with 55 and 19 respectively. The bullpen came in and shut down the Twins’ offense for the last 3 innings of the ball game and the Yankees came out with a 5-4 win.
The second game of the twin heading was not a close game the entire time. Once the Yankees gained the lead in the 4th inning with an Isiah Kiner-Falefa grand slam, they never looked back. Gerrit Cole pitched an absolute gem with 6.2 innings of one-run ball and 14 strikeouts for good measure. The Yankees would go on to win this ballgame with a score of 7-1 in glorious fashion.
September 8 brought on a tough loss for the New York ball club. While the Yankees got out to an early lead in the 2nd inning with a 2-run home run off the bat of Miguel Andujar, they fell behind the Twins in 5th and couldn’t catch up by the end of the night. Carlos Correa for Minnesota put the game just out of reach with a 2-run bomb in the top of the 9th. The Twins ended up taking this one with a final score of 4-3.
Continuing their home stand in the Bronx, the Yankees took on the Rays for a three-game set. Unfortunately, the Rays came out on top in the first game of the series. Drew Rasmussen started the night dealing with 10 strikeouts in 6 innings of shutout ball, absolutely stifling the Yankee lineup. The offense for the Bronx Bombers was inconsistent throughout the night, as they managed to garner nine hits but only muster two runs. Aaron Judge and Miguel Andujar both sported two hits a piece in the tough loss. Yankee starting pitcher, Frankie Montas struggled in his 5.2 innings of work and gave up all four runs the Rays scored. Lucas Luetge and Ryan Weber came out of the bullpen and were lights out, but the damage was already done. The final score ended up being 4-2 in a tough night for the offense.
In the second game of their three-game set with the Rays, the Yankees came out of the gate looking for blood. And they definitely got some with an offensive explosion that resulted in double digits in both hits and runs. Rays starting pitcher, Corey Kluber, only lasted 0.2 innings in his outing while giving up 6 earned runs before being pulled from the game. The Yankees lit him up with seven straight singles to get the ball rolling early and they continued to string hits the rest of the game. Eventually ending the game with 15 total base hits and 10 runs to go along with them. Jameson Taillon pitched a great game with over seven innings of work and kept the Rays out of it for the entirety of his start. Bronx Bombers take game two of the three game set, 10-3.
The final game of the series against the Rays ended off with a bang. In grand fashion, the Bombers once again came with a powerful offensive force that Tampa pitching couldn’t contain. Rays starting pitcher, Luis Patiño had very similar struggles as the previous game’s starter, Corey Kluber. The Yankees torched seemingly every pitch they saw against him and ran up nine runs within the first two innings. Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton and Oswaldo Cabrera all added to their home run totals throughout the game, headlined by Torres’ two-homer day. Yankees take two out of the three games, and run away with this game 10-4.
Possibly the greatest sports rivalry is back again for another series of action. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are still arch-rivals to this day and will be like that forever. September 13 housed the first game of the two-game series between the two teams and it did not disappoint. The game went back and forth throughout and ended up being one of the closest games in recent times. Both teams hit three home runs a piece and the pitching performance was similar on both sides. Aaron Judge continued his charge toward Roger Maris’ AL home run record of 61, adding 56 and 57 to his total throughout 142 games, which is two ahead of Maris’ pace. Late game hits were the deciding factor in this one for the Yankees, as they took it 7-6 in the 9th.
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Featured image courtesy Robert Sabo/ NY POST
1st image courtesy Wendell Cruz/ USA TODAY SPORTS
2nd image courtesy Jason Szenes/ New York Post
3rd image courtesy Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
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