The Yankees entered Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays on a three-game losing streak. Not only were they 33-32, but the Bombers sat in fourth place in the AL East. The Jays are one of the teams ahead of them, making this a crucial series in Buffalo for Aaron Boone’s team.
Rough Start
After Jameson Taillon & Domingo German turned in their worst starts of the season on Saturday & Sunday, you would’ve hoped Jordan Montgomery could pitch well in the series opener. He did not. Monty gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits & four walks through 5.1 innings of work. For most of this season, a 5-2 deficit would have been insurmountable for the Yankees. Thankfully, as Herb Brooks once said, not tonight.
Offense Steps Up
A Gio Urshela single, Gary Sanchez double & Miguel Andujar RBI groundout cut the deficit to 5-3. Brett Gardner’s home run (!!) in the 7th made it 5-4. Then a DJ double followed by two wild pitches tied the game at 5. That was at least the third game-tying wild pitch for the Yankees this season, which has to be a league high, right?
Do we lead the league in game-tying wild pitches? I feel like we have to
— Stanzo (@ncostanzo24) June 16, 2021
Andujar’s leadoff single in the 8th got the rally started. Tyler Wade (who has grown on me) pinch ran and stole second. Boone opted to deploy Clint Frazier to face the lefty pitcher, only for Charlie Montoyo to counter by bringing in a righty. Clint has essentially been Wally Pipp’d by Miggy at this point, struggling badly. He proceeded to rip what ended up being the game-winning double.
CLINT FRAZIER RBI DOUBLE TO TAKE THE LEAD. YANKS COME ALL THE WAY BACK pic.twitter.com/bBTtcz1jDz
— 4 Train Savages (@FourSavages) June 16, 2021
I feel like I’ve asked a million times this season “is that the hit that gets Clint going?” With Andujar getting most of the left field reps, it may be too late for Clint. But it would be awesome if Red Thunder could start swinging a hot bat. As awesome as it was to see the offense win us a game, the bullpen still needs a huge shoutout.
Bullpen Masterclass
Luis Cessa got the final two outs in the 6th, quietly lowering his ERA to 3.33. Jonathan Loaigisa dodged two soft singles from Vlad jr. & Teoscar Hernandez and induced an inning-ending double play. Zack Britton’s second outing of the season wasn’t exactly smooth, loading the bases on two walks and a hit. But he held the lead nonetheless. Finally, Chapman pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning after taking losses in his two previous outings.
What’s Next?
I’m not gonna shout “Yankees are back!” after one game. But this was a huge win to see. The offense has been much better over the past week, and that’s with a bit of a slide from Aaron Judge (6 for his last 29). Gary Sanchez has been on an absolute HEATER, hitting .333 & slugging .647 over his past 15 games. DJ LeMahieu has showed signs of life as well.
Here’s the reality of where this team is at. Their season is far from over. But they’ve dug themselves a hole where they really can’t afford to lose divisional series right now. It’s going to be a dogfight against the Jays, Rays and Red Sox. You need to grind out wins, and that’s precisely what the Yankees did on Tuesday. Gerrit Cole on the bump tonight, let’s win a damn series and get this thing rolling.
To talk anything Yankees, comment below or tweet me @ncostanzo24.
