The New York Yankees continued their winning ways at Yankee Stadium, taking two of three contests from the Colorado Rockies. The pinstripes improved to 14-0-1 in their past 15 series’ in the Bronx.
THEEEE #YANKEES WIN!!! #BPCrew 4-0 at @yankeestadium in 2019! pic.twitter.com/2YsqvVy1Nz
— Bronx Pinstripes (@BronxPinstripes) July 20, 2019
GAME 1
The Yankees tapped the Rockies with a trio of ex-Rockies. Some parrot punch and a Judge jolt helped add up to an 8-2 victory.
DAPPER HAPPER
J.A. Happ followed suit of most Yankee starters of yielding an early homer but otherwise bouncing back with a respectable outing. During the second, Happ surrendered a solo home run to center by Ryan McMahon and an RBI-double to left by Garrett Hampson. Settling down, Happ scattered eight hits, walked two and whiffed eight in five frames.
PARROT POP
Kyle Freeland has been a disappointment this season for the Rockies and my ESPN fantasy baseball team until I cut him about a month ago. With one out in the third, DJ LeMahieu singled to right, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez worked impressive consecutive walks and Edwin Encarnacion sent a screamer grand slam into the left-field bleachers.
Parrot Power 💪🦜 pic.twitter.com/fX4fxT0R0g
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 20, 2019
TAUCH OF THE TOWN
With skipper Aaron Boone serving a one-game suspension, Josh Bard pushed the correct button by giving Mike Tauchman a crack at his old team. Tauchman got Happ out of trouble in the second with an inning-ending double play to cut down Hampson at the plate on a fly ball by Charlie Blackmon. Fast forward to the fifth and Tauchman robbed Trevor Story of a hit with a sliding grab and even fixed his own divot in the outfield.
With two down in the fourth, Tauchman reached on a hustle double to left and would come around on an RBI-single to left by LeMahieu.
New York Yankee DJ LeMahieu has tied his career-high with 66 RBIs 👀 pic.twitter.com/vfsEteEoAm
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 20, 2019
During the sixth, Tauchman knocked a one-out single to center against Yency Almonte, stole second and advanced to third on the errant throw. Tauchman continued his aggressive base running by scoring on a fielder’s choice grounder to third by LeMahieu and not even the slick-fielding Nolan Arenado could throw him out at the dish.
New York Yankee Mike Tauchman singles, then comes around to score after some outstanding baserunning. pic.twitter.com/OZdxcRr01z
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 20, 2019
Tauchman would cap off his evening with his third hit during the eighth.
JUSTICE FOR JUDGE
After being squeezed on strikes again, Judge busted out with a fury in the sixth, smashing a two-run tater to right-center against Almonte to cap off the Bronx Bombers offense.
And this one's homegrown. pic.twitter.com/2LfbuUtWPf
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 20, 2019
OTTOMATIC
Taking over for Happ in the sixth, Adam Ottavino made the Rockies miss him and his sliders like a pothead missing White Castle. Ottavino fanned the side, using the slider as his out pitch on all three batters he faced.
Adam Ottavino, 94mph Two Seamer and 81mph Slider, Overlay pic.twitter.com/iQQnnrII5f
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 20, 2019
ROLL ON THE TARP
Stephen Tarpley followed in the footsteps of Nestor Cortes Jr. and Luis Cessa from the night before, fanning six in three one-hit frames of scoreless ball to close out the contest.
GAME 2
Another BP Crew game, another win for the Yankees. New York captured a decisive 11-5 victory.
EARLY AND OFTEN
The Yankee lineup jumped all over Antonio Senzatela right off the rip.
Judge got the pinstripes on the board with an RBI-double in the first frame.
During the second stanza, consecutive RBI-singles by Gleyber Torres, Austin Romine and Aaron Hicks, along with a two-run double by Encarnacion, increased the New York advantage to 6-0.
It's Saturday afternoon and Edwin's got a 7 RBI weekend right now. pic.twitter.com/lzMwX1Pa9i
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 20, 2019
The early output was more than enough of a cushion for Masahiro Tanaka to pitch to the scoreboard.
MASA MAKES IT
Tanaka pretty much cruised through the first five frames and with a 9-0 lead by that point could afford to grind through a five-run sixth.
GAME 3
Unfortunately, James Paxton carried his first-inning woes into the rest of the game and the offense mustered a mere four hits in an 8-4 loss.
ROCKED
Paxton was walloped right away, surrendering a home run to Blackmon in the first frame. The Rockies would touch him up for seven runs in 3.1 innings.
If this guy doesn’t get his act together, the Yankees are going to need to deal for two starting pitchers at the deadline.
NOT ENOUGH TRAFFIC
Facing a recently struggling German Marquez, the Bronx Bombers couldn’t conjure up enough hits to rally.
LeMahieu and Tauchman continued to punish their former teammates with a pair of solo bombs and Hicks swatted a two-run tater late with the game virtually out of hand.
The best first-pitch leadoff home run you'll see today. pic.twitter.com/vGjTrSItKN
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 21, 2019
ON DECK
At 64-34, the Yankees hit the road and travel to Minnesota to take on the Minnesota Twins for a three-game series starting Monday evening.
Pitching probables, CC Sabathia vs. Martin Perez, Domingo German vs. Kyle Gibson, J.A. Happ vs. Jake Odorizzi.
