Batting Cleanup: Houston, We Have a Series Victory
Giancarlo drove in 8 of the Yankees’ 17 runs this series. (NY Daily News)
The Yankees had something to prove against the Astros this week, and prove it they did. Despite dropping today’s series finale, they won the first series against their rivals since 2019 and played high quality baseball against a very competitive team. I’m not sure which was more impressive this series: the Yankees’ play or the fact that a whole stadium of people yelled expletives at Jose Altuve in perfect synchronicity.
Game 1: Yankees Win 7-3
The series opener was an absolutely bonkers game. The sixth inning took years off of my life, but you love to see important Astros make key errors in late innings. The Yankees exacted some level of revenge against the Astros, taking the first game thanks to solid pitching, timely hitting and a huge Alex Bregman error. One of the most exciting and intense wins at the Stadium in quite some time. You could feel the energy even from your couch at home.
AlEx BrEgman
Let’s start with that sixth inning, which had one of the most wild plays that I’ve seen in a while. With two on and two out in a tie game, Dusty Baker brought in Bryan Abreu to face Rougned Odor. He promptly walked him, bringing up DJ LeMahieu with the bases loaded and two outs. This was a huge situation and LeMahieu did what he does best, putting bat to ball. Let’s roll the tape and watch chaos ensue.
What an absolutely insane series of events Let’s break it down slowly. Alex Bregman tried to make an incredible play on DJ’s grounder, but ended up throwing it away, allowing a run to score. Kyle Higashioka used the error to also round the bases and score. Incredibly, as LeMahieu went to second, Gurriel had so much trouble fielding the ball that Rougned Odor came around as the third run and collided with catcher Martin Maldanado head on. Credit to Odor and Higgy for their smart baserunning, which allowed them to score from second and first on an infield grounder. The play at home plate looked bad for both players, as Odor suffered some kind of leg injury and Maldanado was kneed in the face. Eventually Odor was helped off the field, at first not being able to put pressure on the injured leg and slowly regaining the ability to walk on it. (Odor was placed on the IL with a left knee sprain on Wednesday). This was unquestionably the most exciting sequence of plays this year, although the impact was dulled a bit by the injuries. When Stanton singled to tack on another run, it gave the Yankees a four spot in the inning and a lead. The tension in this game was threatening to boil over and the DJ grounder/Bregman error let the crowd release the tension and go nuts. It was glorious to see and was a testament to the Yankees offense that they strung hits together for a two out rally such as that one (without a single home run, too!)
Strong Start
In terms of ranking innings by craziness, the first inning comes in a close second place in this game. Alex Bregman had homered off Domingo German in the top of the first, taking a bit of wind out of the sails of the raucous crowd. The Astros had struck the first blow and it was up to the Yankees to respond against Zack Greinke. And respond they did. DJ LeMahieu hit a chopper up the middle that snuck through for a leadoff single, bringing up the red hot Giancarlo Stanton. When you throw a 71 mile an hour curveball to Giancarlo Stanton, you best not miss.
Greinke served that pitch on a platter to Stanton and he turned it around to deep left field for a two run home run. It was an electric moment, definitely the loudest moment at the Stadium in quite some time - and even with reduced capacity. The Yankees were back and not messing around. Although they only scored one more run in the inning despite having the bases loaded with no one out, it was a strong start for the New York offense and a fun moment of Yankees baseball. Put it on the World Series highlight reel.
Starting Pitching Goes Short
Domingo German and Zack Greinke both had similar outings - just effective enough to get by, but not effective enough to prevent run scoring or pitch deep into the game. Greinke really kept going back to his 70 mile an hour curveball to complement his low 90s fastball, even dropping a 53 mile an hour breaking pitch to Clint Frazier at one point. He kept the Yankees scoreless after his disastrous first, but they ran up his pitch count enough to get him out by the fifth. Meanwhile, German was tagged for a few long home runs, including a second deck moonshot by Michael Brantley, but made it through five innings with the game tied. The Yankees bullpen pitched four scoreless innings to follow German, while the Astros bullpen gave up the four spot in the sixth, which proved to be the difference in the game.
Bonus Defensive Highlights
How about that double play by Gleyber and Urshela in the sixth? And they said Gleyber can’t play defense!
Game 2: Yankees Win 6-3
Another day, another Yankees win. The Yankees took game two from the ‘Stros in a similar fashion to the series opener - get some early runs off a Stanton homer and stay in the game with solid starting pitching until the offense scores some late runs off the bullpen. Scoring runs off dingers and late inning hits is a good strategy. 100% would watch again.
Giancarlo 4, Astros 3
Giancarlo Stanton has been a one man wrecking crew during the last two weeks. He carried a 10 game hitting streak into this game, in which he has hit everything with authority. During this hitting streak, Stanton has hit .477/.489/.818 with four home runs and six RBI. Tonight, he added to that total in a big way, driving in the first three runs of the game for the Yankees. He blasted a two run shot off Luis Garcia in the third inning and then laced an RBI double down the left field line to tie the game in the fifth. In that at bat, Ryne Stanek did not get a borderline call for strike three and Giancarlo took advantage to hit the double. When a hitter is as hot as Stanton, you don’t get four strikes against him. Stanton followed up his first two hits with yet another hit in the eighth inning to drive home the Yankees’ sixth run. This is the world beating MVP the Yankees traded for in 2017 and it’s great to see Stanton playing up to his potential. He’s one of the most impressive players in baseball when he’s in the zone. There’s nothing more to say right now except enjoy the ride and please don’t complain when he goes into a slump again (because you know you will). For the second time in as many days, please enjoy a Giancarlo Stanton long ball.
Eight Is Great
On Tuesday, the Yankees broke a tie with the Astros in the sixth inning. On Wednesday, they did their damage in the eighth inning. Against Brooks Raley, Gleyber Torres single and Clint Frazier, pinch hitting for Mike Ford, walked. This brought up the struggling Aaron Hicks, who got to bat right handed against a lefty pitcher, which is like manna from heaven for Hicks. He took advantage, blooping a single to right to put the Yankees up 4-3. Huge hit for Hicks, who has had few moments to celebrate this year.
The Yankees tacked on two more runs on a Gardner sac fly and the aforementioned Stanton single to take a 6-3 lead. It was another exciting late inning rally, the second in as many games. Innings like this make you dream about the potential of this Yankees offense. It’s hard to remember how feeble they looked two weeks ago when they string together hits like this. In the ninth, the absolutely overpowering Aroldis Chapman came in to close the door, striking out two in a scoreless inning. Chapman has been out of this world this year. For as good as Gerrit Cole has been, somehow he might not even be the most impressive pitcher on this team. Chapman’s ninth capped off another scoreless night for the bullpen, which is simply running on automatic at this point.
Messy Monty
The conditions tonight were messy, with rain and mist washing over the field, but the game was played without any delays. Jordan Montgomery had a similarly messy outing - a few bumps in the road, but nothing that would derail his outing . He gave up three runs in six innings on eight innings, through a combination of hard hit balls and bloop hits that fell between fielders. The Astros scored their runs off him in the third inning, and a play to nail Carlos Correa at the plate prevented another run from scoring. Montgomery was solid but got dinged by that inning. However, he made it through six and kept the Yankees tied up with the Astros. With some better fielding and better luck, his line would look more impressive, but he still pitched a quality start against a very good lineup. Job well done, Monty.
Game 3: Yankees Lose 7-4
The series finale was a frustrating loss, a bad way to end a great series. The Yankees bullpen imploded for the first time all year and put a damper on a great outing by Gerrit Cole. Let’s run through the damage before we wrap up this series review.
Bullpen Of Our Discontent
It was bound to happen at some point. The Yankees bullpen, which has been so good all year, had its first major hiccup on Thursday, allowing five runs in the eighth and ninth to put the game out of reach. The big blow was a three run Jose Altuve home run off Chad Green, which came on a pitch that was somewhere above his head. Altuve has been hearing it all week from Yankees fans, so I suppose poking the bear too many times yields something like this. In the ninth, Justin Wilson gave up a two run shot to Martin Maldanado, which effectively put the game out of reach. For Wilson, it was the continuation of a poor stretch of pitching for him - he now has a 7.04 ERA and is officially A Problem. Overall, this was just one of those games where the bullpen collapses on itself and blows a winnable game, but it was frustrating that it came in the eighth inning of a series finale where the Yankees had a chance to sweep the Astros out of New York. C'est la’vie.
Gerrit Good
When a pitcher goes seven innings, allows two runs, and strikes out four and that’s considered a mediocre outing for him, you know he’s good. And folks, Gerrit Cole is good. Cole was slightly less sharp than his previous outings but was facing a lineup that was much more competent than any he had faced before, and he handled them with ease. Dan Issagona’s questionable strike zone probably robbed a few K’s from Cole and Yordan Alvarez had his number, hitting two solo shots off of him, but other than that, Cole was in control the whole game. Unfortunately, the Yankees bullpen robbed him of a win, but he did all that he could to keep the Yankees in the game. Gerrit is a monster on the mound and he faces the Rays in St. Petersburg next. You know he’s looking for revenge from the last time they beat him. Can’t wait to see it.
Clint and Stanton Carry the Offense
I regret to inform you that Giancarlo Stanton is at it again. Stanton hit ANOTHER home run off Lance McCullers in the third inning, this one an opposite field shot to the right field bullpen. The minute it left the bat, you knew it was gone and indeed, this home run was scorched at 117 MPH.
Although Stanton had hit the only Yankee home runs this series to that point, Clint Frazier decided that Stanton was having too much fun and decided to join in. He crushed an opposite field shot of his own in the fourth inning. This was Clint’s third home run of the year, all coming in the last three series, and its great to see him start to heat up at the plate.
Odds and Ends
Unfortunately, there was some injury news here too for the Yankees. Gio Urshela left the game in the eighth after making a diving play and then throwing the ball away to allow the runners to advance. He went for an MRI on his knee and fingers crossed that it’s nothing too serious. Gio has been one of the most consistent hitters for the Yankees this year and losing him for any amount of time would be tough to swallow.
In the eighth, Gleyber Torres had one of the wonkiest baserunning plays you’ll see. Aaron Hicks hit a ground ball to second that turned into an infield single when Altuve couldn’t come up with it. Torres, who was on first, advanced from second to third and then to home when no one was covering either base. This was a huge, heads up play for Torres, who seems like a different player than the one who failed to run out a ground ball to first a few weeks ago.
To close our recap, I’m introducing a new section just for this series called “Let’s Look at the Creative Ways that the Astros Were Heckled in this Series”. Here are some highlights from this past week.
I like this one just for its simplicity.
The Yankees are 5-1 on this homestand and will look to win their third series in a row (and fourth of their last five) this weekend, when they welcome the Washington Nationals to Yankee Stadium. Check back tomorrow for our series preview! Thanks and remember - the 2017 Astros title does not count because they cheated!
