San Francisco Giants – New York Yankees
The Yankees welcome in one of the best in the league for interleague baseball with the San Francisco Giants.
Against ace Madison Bumgarner, the Yankees struck in the first inning. After a lead off single by Brett Gardner, Starlin Castro hit a deep fly ball to left field that allowed Gardner to score. The Yankees managed to load the bases with two outs but Austin Romine flew out to center.
Following a quick five-pitch first inning by Masahiro Tanaka, a lead off walk and single put him in early hot water but three straight outs stranded the runners without a run scoring. The Yankees went back to work on Bumgarner in the second inning. With one out, Ronald Torreyes got on with a single and advanced to third with two outs when Starlin Castro hit a single to left field and Angel Pagan could not come up with the ball cleanly. Carlos Beltran brought home Torreyes and the Yankees were up 2-0 against Bumgarner.
In the third inning, Gregor Blanco got on base with a fielding error by first baseman Rob Refsnyder. Runners were on the corners after Denard Span hit a single. In trouble, Masahiro Tanaka got a fly out to right field where Carlos Beltran made the catch and unleashed a great throw home to get Blanco out at home.
A review was requested by the Giants but Blanco was confirmed out as his fingers did not touch the plate on the remarkable double play to change the complexion of the inning. A soft line out by Brandon Belt ended the inning but the double play shined bright in the inning.
The Giants continued to threaten against Tanaka and the Yankees in the fourth inning. Buster Posey led off with a single. With one out, Conor Gillaspie added a single of his own and Jarrett Parker walked to load the bases. Former Yankee Ramiro Pena popped out to Romine in foul territory and Gregor Blanco struck out as Tanaka was visibly excited to escape the bases loaded jam unscathed.
In six scoreless innings by Masahiro Tanaka, the Giants managed just four hits and two walks. Tanaka struck out four.
Dellin Betances got the call for the seventh inning and issued a lead off walk to Parker. After strikeouts of Ramiro Pena and Grego Blanco, Denard Span hit a double to right field that nearly scored Parker but a clean relay held him up. Unfortunately, a wild pitch by Betances plated the Giants’ first run of the game. A ground out to first let the Yankees retain a one-run lead after seven innings.
Andrew Miller came on for the eighth inning. After getting the first out, Trevor Brown got on base with a single. Miller got the second out but the Giants pushed all the right buttons at the right time. Grant Green got on base with a pinch-hit single and the second consecutive pinch-hitter, Mac Williamson, added a double to deep left field to tie the game, 2-2. Miller bounced back by striking out Ramiro Pena but the damage was done.
Entering tonight’s game, the Yankees bullpen went 31.0 innings of scoreless baseball.
After losing the lead, Chase Headley led off the eighth inning with an infield single against lefty Josh Osich. Mark Teixeira walked in his first at-bat of the night and Austin Romine came up with the responsibility of bunting to advance the potential go-ahead run into scoring position. Romine fell behind 0-2 after two failed bunts but a ground ball up the middle to Brandon Crawford resulted in a force out at second but the throw for a potential double play was high. As the ball went in and out of Belt’s glove, Headley kept his head up on the play, scoring as the ball trickled away from Belt to put the Yankees ahead.
With the lead reclaimed, the Yankees looked to Aroldis Chapman for a clean ninth inning after two rough relief outings by two of the Big 3. The first batter, Gregor Blanco, hit a dying fly ball to left field that Gardner tried to slide and catch but it deflected off his glove and traveled into the left field corner for a lead off double. Denard Span hit a ground ball to Didi Gregorius for the first out and Angel Pagan lined out to Starlin Castro for the second out. Chapman got Brandon Belt to strikeout swinging on a 3-2 fastball to end the game and secure the win.
Win – Andrew Miller (6-1)
Loss – Josh Osich (1-2)
Save – Aroldis Chapman (20)
Notables
Giants
*Trevor Brown – 1 for 2, R
*Mac Williamson – 1 for 1, 2B, RBI (13)
Yankees
*Starlin Castro – 3 for 4, 2B, RBI (38)
*Carlos Beltran – 2 for 2, 2 BB, RBI (61)
Current Yankees Record: 49-47
