BRONX, N.Y. — In this series the New York Yankees pulled the opposite of their usual 2021 forte. The Bronx Bombers followed up an initial stinker with a pair of blowouts against the lowly Baltimore Orioles. Ideally, you’d like to see the sweep here at home but considering the state of the starting rotation with injuries and COVID-19 protocols, you take that and a couple of double-digit outputs to save the back end of the bullpen.
GAME 1
Highlights? Seriously, I should post the video of that cat running around the outfield in the eighth inning and call it a day. It was almost as though there was a leap year glitch in the matrix and instead of punting with a chance to sweep in Miami, the Yankees decided to lay an egg in front of the Bronx faithful. The 6-1 loss was about as embarrassing as it gets.
🚨 CAT ON THE FIELD 🚨 pic.twitter.com/m6tFNgAEZp
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 3, 2021
Jorge Lopez, he of the 6+ ERA entering this contest, no-hit the Yankees through five innings, until a Joey Gallo leadoff double during the sixth inning. The lone Yankee run came on an Anthony Rizzo sac-fly to left in the fifth frame. New York totaled a meager three hits on the evening.
On the bump for the pinstripes was newly acquired, Andrew Heaney. Heaney paid homage to Chase Wright by donning No. 38 and yielding four home runs. Although Heaney didn’t allow the homers consecutively, so that was a plus, I guess?
Not ideal, especially when you have Luis Severino, Corey Kluber, and Domingo German on the IL, and after the game, Gerrit Cole goes on the COVID-19 protocol list.
GAME 2
Now, this was more of your prototypical Yankees – Orioles game of recent vintage. The Bronx Bomber bats came alive for a season-high in runs scored and emergency starter Luis Gil was electric in a 13-1 victory.
In the second stanza, it was a Gleyber Torres RBI double to center off Alexander Wells that put the Yankees on the board.
An inning later, New York really busted it open. DJ LeMahieu plated a run with a double of his own to right. Rizzo followed with an RBI single to center. Two batters later, Giancarlo Stanton increased the advantage with an RBI single to center. Two batters after that it was Gary Sanchez with an RBI double to left. Capping off the inning was Torres with a sac-fly to right off Adam Plutko.
The ensuing inning saw Stanton all but put the game out of reach with a three-run swat to right to make it 9-0 Bronx Bombers.
On the bump, Gil was aggressive and showed great velocity and movement on his fastball, slider, and changeup. His fastball was hitting 99, changeup a ridiculous 93, and the slider at 87. He was cooking. Gil tossed six scoreless frames, fanned six, scattered four hits, and walked one. He became the first Yankee to hurl six scoreless innings in his MLB since household name Sam Militello in 1992.
In relief, Stephen Ridings was pumping gas, striking out the side around a double in his seventh inning deubt.
3 Ks for Stephen Ridings in his 1st inning in the Bigs.
Congrats, @ridings17 👊 pic.twitter.com/5R6zDo3TJk
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 4, 2021
During the eighth inning the Bronx Bombers tacked on three more runs, Tyler Wade doubled home a run to right off Shaun Anderson. Rizzo plated a run on a ground out to shortstop. Capping off the offense was an Aaron Judge home run to right.
#AllRise for the 13th run of the night. pic.twitter.com/OZ7yrJDwG0
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 4, 2021
GAME 3
The series finale went from tenuous early to an outright laugher. Virtually every batted ball found the green in a Bronx Bombers bludgeoning, 10-3.
It was a hard-luck first frame for Jameson Taillon. Cedric Mullins set the table for the Orioles with a single to right. With Mullins in motion, Ramon Urias singled to left where the ball was bobbled by Joey Gallo, enabling Urias to advance to second. With one out, a Ryan Mountcastle sac-fly to right gave Baltimore a 1-0 edge. An Austin Hays single to left doubled the O’s lead. Mountcastle was back for more with a porch job to right in the fourth frame for a 3-0 lead.
Yet, the July American League Pitcher of the Month would rebound in his first August outing and was locked in with his fastball and curveball racking up 10 Ks on the evening in 6.1 frames.
As with Jamo, the Yankee lineup would finally shake out of it and found their was against O’s starter, Matt Harvey.
After a 13-pitch at-bat during the first frame, Rizzo finally straightened one out in the fourth frame with a solo smash to right-center. The Yankee first baseman became the first player in franchise history to drive in a run in each of his first six contests.
The pinstripes would chip away some more later in the inning, a Torres RBI single to right cut the deficit to one.
Breaking into the Baltimore bullpen, LeMahieu got his monster four-RBI night going with a run-producing single to left off Cesar Valdez to tie the game in the fifth inning.
The Yankee second sacker was back for more in the seventh inning with an RBI single to center off Paul Fry for the lead. New York wouldn’t look back from there. Stanton cleared the bases with a soaring three-run bloop double to right off Dillon Tate.
Torres traded spaces with Stanton with an RBI double to left.
Hoisting the Yankees to double digits and capping off the output was LeMahieu with a two-run double in the eighth inning.
ON DECK
At 58-49, the Yankees host the Seattle Mariners for a four-game set starting Thursday evening.
Pitching probables, Tyler Anderson vs. Nestor Cortes Jr., Marco Gonzales vs. TBD, Chris Flexen vs. Andrew Heaney, Yusei Kikuchi vs. Luis Gil.
