Batting Cleanup: OAK A’s? Okay (Feat. #HotGarySummer)

Batting Cleanup
Written By Will Harris
#HotGarySummer was in full effect this weekend against Oakland (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)

#HotGarySummer was in full effect this weekend against Oakland (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)

Game 1: Yankees Lose 5-3

Which James is On?

It was a matchup of James against Jameson in the first game of the series, and Jameson was nearly as (James)ON as I hoped he would be.

While James Kaprielian did not allow a single hit to the first 9 Yankees to come to the plate (4 K and 1 BB in there), and looked generally untouchable. Did he benefit from some questionable calls from Bruce Dreckman? He sure did. Check out these two to Aaron Judge.

0b67f4f2-37e5-4330-a7f2-546719075944.jpg

Even so, Kaprielian was getting a ton of swings and misses, limiting hard contact (really limiting contact wholesale), and making a lot of very good Major League hitters look silly. As we pointed out on Twitter, he lived up to his billing as a highly-touted prospect.

Sure, he allowed homers to DJ and Odor, but those accounted for two of the three hits he allowed in 5.2 IP. Bob Melvin pulled him before he faced Stanton a third time (with Judge on third), and I think you just have to tip your hat to the rookie. He only threw 80 pitches, but did a good job of making them count. He struck out 7 and only walked 1, and most importantly for the A’s, left with the lead and in line for the win.

Taillon was not quite as good as Kaprielian, but was more effective than he had been in recent games. He only completed 4.2 IP, as Boone pulled him before Matt Olson’s third AB, but he looked pretty solid.

Did he allow 8 hard-hit balls? Yeah. Is that going to be good for his Baseball Savant page? No. Still, he struck out 5 batters and only walked 1 while allowing just 2 runs and 4 hits on 76 pitches. One run came on a bullet homer by Matt Olson, who we did anticipate would cause problems for the Yankees in this series, and the other came on a double and a single by Elvis Andrus and Mark Canha respectively.

Again, though, I really don’t hate what we saw from Jamo. He got 11 whiffs on 40 swings, which was just about at his season average, but there was just something… better about what he did. Not better than what James Kaprielian provided, but better than what we had seen recently. My hope that Jamo will be an effective piece in this rotation springs eternal.

What’s That Sound?

Well of course it is DJ LeMahieu’s Club Mix!

DJ came up with Brett Gardner on in the bottom of the third and TURNED THAT WEEKEND UP by lining this game-tying homer into right field to card the first hit (and first runs) for the Yankees off of Kaprielian.

And What’s That Smell?

Well that would be none other than the Odor of Rougie! The man who the Rangers pay to play for the Yankees provided another instance of his sporadic production with this go-ahead BOMB off of Kaprielian in the bottom of the fifth. Just let me Odor you, Rougie.

Why, Wandy?

Wandy Peralta came in to relieve Taillon, and looked effective… until he didn’t. He got Matt Olson to fly out to end the fifth, which gave him the sixth inning. He started strong, striking out Chad Pinder who was pinch-hitting for Mitch Moreland, and then getting Jed Lowrie to ground out. That’s when the good stopped.

Matt Chapman poked a clean single into center, bringing Sean Murphy to the plate. An aggressive shift allowed a weak ground ball by Murphy to the typical position of the second baseman to get through the infield and advance Chapman to third. That brought Tony Kemp to the plate, and Peralta could not put him away after going up 0-2 quickly. After two balls in the dirt, Kemp drove the next offering from Peralta into the right field seats and put the A’s up 5-3.

Don’t Call It A Comeback

Though the Yankees had won their previous three games despite trailing in the seventh inning or later, a comeback was not in order on Friday. Gleyber and Stanton both hit deep fly balls with game-tying potential in the sixth, but both were caught in left center. After that, they managed to put runners on base on a couple of occasions, but squandered them each time. Bruce Dreckman was no small part of that.

As you can see here, Dreckman was below average in strike zone accuracy (and that tracks with his career numbers) and two of his three most egregiously blown calls came with the tying run at the plate for the Yankees in the seventh inning. There is no reason not to have an automated strike zone. Human umpires are awful at their jobs and have far too great an effect on the game for us to tolerate how bad they are.

The bottom line here, though, is that Wandy Peralta lost the Yankees this game. He gave up back-to-back-to-back hits with two outs (even though one was really shift-induced), and couldn’t get Tony Kemp out to pass a lead onto the really good bullpen guys. I see no reason why he was brought in before Luetge, nor any evidence that explains to me why the Yankees trust him so much. Tough decision. Tough loss.

Game 2: Yankees Win 7-5

Worrying About Starting Pitching Is Allowed

Domingo Germán had his second less-than-stellar start in a row in this one, and it looked like he might have lost the Yankees the series early on.

He allowed a home run to Tony Kemp, who I guess is a Yankee Killer now, in the first inning. He had a relatively uneventful time in the second and third innings, but served up a home run to Matt Chapman, who was bound to hit eventually, in the fourth. The fifth is where it all fell apart. Domingo didn’t record an out in the inning, and allowed three singles and a walk. This turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-1 lead for Oakland, and forced Boone to call on Nestor Cortes. It was exactly what you didn’t want to see from Domingo. Solo homers are fine, but he needs to command the zone and limit runners on base. He did that for much of the game, but was not able to keep it together in the fifth, and he put the Yankees behind the 8-ball in multiple ways.

Nestor Cortes Is Good And I Don’t Know Why

Nestor Cortes has a 1.46 ERA this year and a 2.03 FIP. Nestor Cortes came in after Domingo fell apart and recorded 3 quick outs (2 Ks) to keep the A’s from scoring any more runs. He allowed a walk and a hit over 3 innings while striking out 3 in this one to keep the Yankees in the game. I am so fine with Nestor having a nice segment on the World Series DVD. What a fun, mustachioed guy.

Cue Runs

My gosh guys, #HotGarySummer is in full effect. Gary was 1-3 with a walk and a homer in this one and… just look at the homer. Am I the only one who feels like a lot of his production during this recent hot streak has been on the road? He had the two homers in Buffalo, a nice 1.000 OPS series in Minnesota, and a similarly good series in Detroit. I guess my narrative fits, because this nuke off of Chris Bassitt (who was really good, as advertised) was his first home run in the Bronx since the one that he LAUNCHED against Toronto just before Memorial Day. This cut the deficit from 4-1 to 4-2, and continued #HotGarySummer.

Despite the best efforts of Gary Sanchez, who now has a wRC+ of 120 and an OPS of .800, the Yankees entered the seventh inning trailing 4-2. The A’s, like idiots, pulled the near unhittable Bassitt prior to the seventh despite the fact that he had only thrown 90 pitches, and put in the eminently hittable Burch Smith (seriously, is he a legit high-leverage guy for them?), which was a mistake. Smith came into the game with a 5.03 ERA and left with a 5.75 ERA because he allowed this double to Clint Frazier (who had a nice multi-XBH game)…

…and then decided that the appropriate way to follow it up would be to allow Aaron Judge to hit this RBI single.

But our boy Burch wasn’t done there! After Judge’s single, he walked Gary Sanchez, and Bob Melvin pulled him before he could allow a 900-foot home run to Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton poked a single the other way off Yusmeiro Petit, scoring Judge and tying the game for the Yankees. It was a bad day to be a bullpen arm for the A’s, and it only got worse.

In the eighth inning, with the game still tied, the A’s brought in Jesus Luzardo, who’s a young pitcher with great stuff but has not managed to quite figure things out at the Major League level yet. The first batter he faced was Gio Urshela, and Gio Urshela had no interest in the game being tied any longer.

Bless our defensive king, his 2-RBI day, and his 109 (and climbing) wRC+.

Here’s the thing about Luzardo: I think he is suffering from being in the same bullpen as Burch Smith. After Gio’s homer, Luzardo walked Chris Gittens and Clint “plate discipline” Frazier. The only out he recorded was on a sacrifice bunt by Brett Gardner. With two on and one out, the RISP King himself returned to deliver the Yankees some insurance.

DJ’s 1-5 day wasn’t hugely impressive, but he got the big hit (which he’s started to do more often recently) and that’s what matters most. The Yankees needed the insurance, too.

I Know I Said It Before But We Need To Do Something About Umpires

Aroldis Chapman came on to pitch the ninth, and he threw six pitches that were called balls. Here they are.

One thing you might notice about half of those pitches, is that they were quite clearly strikes. The umpiring problem did not go away in this series just because Bruce Dreckman was no longer behind the plate. Boone had a big problem with the last two calls against Canha, and got himself thrown out for arguing them. Real cool, Sean Barber. Maybe you should simply be better at your job. Pitching Ninja provides some good detail below.

No Matter How Bad Umpires Are, Aroldis Chapman Is Better

Chapman survived the inning, but it was rocky. Some of the rockiness, like him dropping a ball from Tyler Wade and allowing Matt Olson to reach, was his doing. Other parts of it, like the fact that Mark Canha was on base at all, were out of his control. After his misplay of Wade’s throw on Olson’s single (generous scoring), he allowed a clean single to Ramon Laureano, which scored Canha.

Chapman then decided he had seen enough. He dominated Matt Chapman (Chapman on Chapman violence) with three beautiful fastballs, and slammed the door on a comeback for the A’s. It was his 15th save of the year, and despite the way it bloated his ERA, was pretty impressive. The last pitch he threw was the 103.4 MPH, the hardest pitch thrown in the Majors since May of 2019. That’s not so bad.

Game 3: Yankees Win 2-1

I’ve Heard MJ is the GOAT, But Maybe It’s JM

The Yankees needed a great start from Jordan Montgomery on Sunday. They didn’t need it because a rubber game with the A’s in June is somehow a huge matchup or because Monty needed a season-defining performance or anything like that, but because Sean Manaea was untouchable.

Manaea struck out 11 Yankees and allowed just 3 hits (all doubles) and 2 runs in 5.1 IP, and looked dominant for most of the day. In the sixth, he got himself in trouble with walks, and Gary made him pay, but things looked bleak for a long time. Manaea threw a bunch of fastballs at velocities that were not very impressive, but the Yankees simply could not hit him. You just have to tip your hat and hope your guy is better, and today Jordan Montgomery was a little better.

Montgomery got off to a rough start. Like Domingo Germán on Saturday, he allowed a solo homer in the first inning. This time, it was to Yankee Killer Matt Olson. That was all the damage the A’s managed against him though. Monty deftly deployed his curveball and changeup against Oakland’s lineup throughout the day, and worked 5.1 innings of 3-hit, 1-run ball while striking out 6 batters and walking two. His season ERA is back down to 4.03, and he delivered exactly the start the Yankees needed against Manaea’s terrific performance.

The Offense? That Would Be Gary Sanchez

Just as it has been for the last three weeks, #HotGarySummer was in full effect on Sunday. He had 2 of the 3 hits that the Yankees got off of Manaea (2 of the 3 hits the Yankees got in the game), both doubles to right center, and the second one was a huge deal. With two on and one out in the sixth, after the Yankees had not managed to do anything offensively all game, Gary came up and delivered a two-run double to right center, and advanced to third on one of the more unusual tag plays I have seen for good measure.

With this double, Gary moved his season slash line to .237/.340/.480 (.820 OPS) and boasts a 125 wRC+. He’s been productive since moving to the 3 hole in the lineup, and has carried this offense for much of the last week. What a great run he is on. Is this any good?

I have no choice but to conclude that’s pretty good. Though I wish Smyth was in on #HotGarySummer

No Shortage of Nailbiting

With one out in the sixth, Jonathan Loaisiga came on to relieve Jordan Montgomery with runners on first and second. He got Ramon Laureano to ground into a fielder’s choice that appeared to be a double play, but the double play was overturned and Loaisiga had to come back and do some more work. Because Jonathan Loaisiga is great (his ERA is down to 1.63), he got Jed Lowrie to ground out to third, stranding Mark Canha at third and holding the game’s 1-0 score.

With the Yankees leading in the top of the seventh, Loaisiga came back out and worked around a walk to hold the A’s scoreless in the seventh.

Lucas Luetge allowed a triple to Matt Chapman with one out in the eighth. Clint may have misplayed the ball, but it was a solidly hit ball off the wall in the gap in left center. Either way, it didn’t matter to Luetge who struck out Matt Olson and got Ramon Laureano to hit a deep fly ball to left that Clint caught. On to the ninth…

A PITCHER’S BEST FRIEND

Guys, this is getting ridiculous. Aroldis Chapman came in to pitch the ninth, and did not look like himself. Boone and the trainers came out to take a look at him after the second walk he issued, but Chapman stayed in the game. With two on and nobody out, Wandy Peralta and Luis Cessa were warming up in the bullpen for the Yankees. Are Zack Britton and Chad Green alright? It seemed like the Yankees could have used them in the eighth, and may have needed them if the ninth had played out differently.

Of course, the Yankees did not need them. Sean Murphy came up with the tying run on second base and nobody out. Sean Murphy is a catcher who is in the 28th percentile in sprint speed among all Major Leaguers. When Sean Murphy hit a ground ball to Gio Urshela right next to third base, the A’s were cooked. Gio stepped on the bag, whipped the ball to DJ at second, who relayed to Gittens at first base for the Yankees’ third triple play of the year (the most they’ve ever had in a year) and sealed the series win. Check this out.

Parting Shots

With this win, the Yankees are 4-0 in their series against teams in first or second place in the AL Central and AL West this year, and 10-3 in those games. This team has really only struggled with the Red Sox and Rays. It’s time to figure those out.

The Yankees came back to win for the fifth time in their last 6 games. That’s pretty good.

The Yankees ended the game with a triple play for the first time in 110 years. I don’t even know how to put this triple play stuff into context anymore. It’s especially weird that the triple plays are happening so much NOW. I know uncommon things (like no-hitters) sometimes cluster, but let’s think about this. The Yankees have turned 3 triple plays in a year where balls in play are basically as uncommon as they have ever been. On top of that, two of those triple plays have come with Aroldis Chapman on the mound, and he is the absolute opposite of a guy who pitches to contact, what a wild thing.

Gary Sanchez is basically the best hitter of all time. If you weren’t on the #HotGarySummer bandwagon before, you best be now. Here’s a tweet about Gary Sanchez from 2016.

We’ll have a podcast and a preview of the upcoming series with the Royals for you on Monday. Enjoy the series win, the 5-1 week, and the rest of the weekend. Let’s go Yankees.

Will Harris
Previous

Bomber Bits: Good Things Come In Threes
Next

Leading Off: Oakland Athletics