Shaun Marcum came into tonight’s game sporting a career ERA of 6.55 in 44 innings pitched versus the Yankees, but managed to hold the them to just one hit over the first three innings. In the fourth inning however, the Yankees and Russell Martin broke out in a big way.
Before Martin came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth with the game tied at 1, Cano led off the inning with a triple to center; Swisher then tied the game with an RBI single— giving him at least one RBI in four straight games. Posada followed with a single off the base of the right field wall setting up Martin’s three run blast. Martin’s home run was not only a huge hit for him, who came into the game with a .188 average in his last 48 at-bats with no extra base hits, but it also provided the Yankees with the winning runs in a 5-2 victory. After a hot start to the season, Russell has really struggled (possibly due to nagging injuries, which aren’t unusual for a catcher).
AJ Burnett pitched seven strong innings, continuing his 2011 resurgence. Milwaukee loaded the bases in the sixth inning with one out, but AJ limited damage by just giving up one run on a fielder’s choice. The 2010 AJ would have imploded but the 2011 AJ has pitched in-and-out of jams all season, which can be expected and accepted with his inconsistent control.
For Milwaukee, Ryan Braun extended his hitting streak to 19 games by going 3-for-4. Surprisingly, Braun is one of two players in MLB with at least 15 home runs and 15 stolen bases. (The other is Matt Kemp). Granderson needs two more stolen bases to join that list, which features two of the most prolific power-speed players in Baseball.
Andrew Rotondi
NYYUniverse.com Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @Yankees_talk
