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Series Recap
·4 min read

Series Recap: Yankees finish homestand strong against Athletics

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Wrapping up a 4-2 homestand, the New York Yankees finished strong against the Oakland Athletics. The starting pitching was solid throughout the series and the offense capped it off with a boom. Since the inception of the Wild Card, nearly 60 percent of teams in first place on Memorial Day reach the postseason, which is where the Yankees find themselves atop the AL East.

GAME 1

Following a rain out, the Yanks welcomed the A’s to the Bronx. The extra day’s rest proved fruitful for Masahiro Tanaka. Yet, Oakland essentially lulled the Yankee bats to sleep in a 4-1 loss. Between watching Jason Hammel Wednesday and this game, I’m all in favor of a pitch clock.

MASAHIRO TANAKKKKKKKKKKKKKA

For 7.1 innings it was a Friday of 13 K’s, Nightmare on East 161st Street for the Athletics. Facing a favorable lineup and given an extra day to rest, Tanaka was on the money with a career-high 13 whiffs and zero walks. Yet, Tanaka would still be tagged with the hard-luck loss.

CLIPPED IN THE EIGHTH

After fanning Mark Canha, Tanaka yielded a single to right by Adam Rosales and was lifted for Tyler Clippard. An errant throw on a pickoff attempt at first allowed Rosales to scamper to third. Rajai Davis grounded to Chase Headley at third, who nailed Rosales at the dish. After Davis stole second, Matt Joyce walked. The red-hot Jed Lowrie planted an RBI-single to left, breaking the stalemate. A hustle infield single to short, a play made close by Didi Gregorius, Khris Davis reached first and gave the A’s a 2-0 advantage.

A two-run homer to right by Stephen Vogt off Jonathan Holder doubled the A’s lead to 4-0.

Once again this is where the Yanks miss the services of Aroldis Chapman and not being able to use Dellin Betances in the eighth.

SHUTOUT BROKEN

After making Sean Manaea look like the second coming of Vida Blue, the Yankees loaded up the bases in the ninth against the stalling machine known as Santiago Casilla. A sacrifice fly to left by Gregorius prevented New York from being blanked for the first time this season.

GAME 2

Sometimes you lose games you’re supposed to win, other times you win games you’re supposed to lose. Across 162 games these outcomes tend to even out. In the end, the Yanks ended up with more runs than hits but it was more than enough for a 3-2 victory.

ANDY HAWKINS NO-HITTER

Yankee fans of a certain age might remember Andy Hawkins threw a no-hitter at Chicago in 1990 but lost 4-0 after a combination of three errors and a pair of walks sealed his fate in the eighth inning on July 1, 1990.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon and Jharel Cotton was tossing a no-hitter but trailing 1-0 through 5.2 frames. New York posted a 1-0 lead in the first after a walk to Sanchez, Matt Holliday was hit by a pitch and both advanced on a wild pitch, allowing Starlin Castro to hit a sacrifice fly to right.

HOLLIDAY CELEBRATE

After the A’s knotted the game at one in the top half of the sixth, Sanchez coaxed a walk and Holliday broke up the no-hitter against his former team with a two-run blast to left.

STOPPER SABATHIA

Following another loss, CC Sabathia stopped the bleeding with a solid start and a season-high nine K’s across 6.1 frames. A sixth inning RBI-double by Ryon Healy and a seventh-inning home run to left by Josh Phegley were the only runs allowed by Sabathia.

SANCHEZ STARS

Behind the dish, it was spring training form for “El Gary.” During the second, Sanchez threw out Trevor Plouffe at second base from his knees to retire the side.

YOUR TYPICAL 4-9 PUTOUT

In the sixth, Plouffe was victimized again. With two down and a runner on third, Plouffe flew to shallow right where Starlin Castro went for the ball over his head which popped out of his glove and into the glove of Aaron Judge to end the threat.

HIGH FIVE DELLIN

With Clippard devolving into the second coming of Kyle Farnsworth, Betances was called on with two on and one out in the eighth. After recording two strikeouts in the eighth, Betances set down the A’s in order in the ninth for his fifth save.

GAME 3

In their 9-5 series finale victory, the Yankees bats finally looked loose and cranked out 10 hits. New York also capitalized on some fundamentally lackluster plays from Oakland.

MATINEE MIKE

With his sixth victory of the season, Michael Pineda has already matched his win total from 2016. While the A’s nicked him early, Pineda kept them in the yard and gutted out 6.0 innings with five K’s and only allowed three runs.

CHASING MARIS

If Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer and a benchmark for the baseball season, we can officially start talking about Judge tracking down Roger Maris. Both right-fielders, one wore No. 9, the other wears No. 99. Judge once drafted by the A’s, Maris once played for the Kansas City A’s. With his first career grand slam during the third inning, the Yankees’ rookie leads MLB with 16 home runs through 47 team games. In 1961 Maris had 15 home runs through 47 team games. It’s a lot to place on anyone let alone a Yankees rookie but enjoy the ride.

AGGRESSIVE BASERUNNING

Hustling and taking the extra base set the tone on the afternoon. In the second inning, Castro singled to center and both he and Gregorius moved into scoring position on a poor throw on a Gregorius single to left-center. This enabled Hicks to drive a sacrifice fly to center.

During the fourth inning, Hicks singled to right, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher Phegley. Likewise, a Carter sacrifice fly to center plated Hicks.

A two-run double by Gardner capped off the scoring in the eighth inning.

RELIEF REDEMPTION

Finally, a reliever other than Betances was able to record an out. Chad Green, Tommy Layne and Adam Warren were able to nail down the final nine outs.

ON DECK

At 29-18 on the campaign, the Yankees travel to Baltimore to face the Baltimore Orioles in a three-game series starting Monday afternoon.

Pitching probables include Jordan Montgomery vs. Dylan Bundy, Luis Severino vs. Chris Tillman, Masahiro Tanaka vs. Kevin Gausman.