Batting Cleanup: Blue Jays Way
Kyle Higashioka provided the only Yankees offense in the series opener (AP).
After a scorching hot week of baseball, the Yankees could not sustain their winning streak and starting pitching dominance into this series versus Toronto. They dropped their first series since mid April, but were able to salvage the finale to avoid getting swept. Some injury news and a rainout made this week feel especially long, but let’s run through the highlights and lowlights of the past few games.
Game 1: Yankees Lose 6-2
The good times, they did not keep rollin’. The Yankees dropped their series opener to the Blue Jays in a living testament to the law of averages and potentially lost Corey Kluber to a shoulder injury. Cue the Joe Girardi memes.
Klubot Malfunction
Coming off of a start in which he threw nine innings of hitless ball, Corey Kluber provided something less than that this time. It was evident from the start that his command was spotty, as he walked three batters in his three innings. Kluber surrendered a two run bomb to Vlad Guerrero Jr. that was absolutely smoked - 114 miles per hour to right center field.
Unfortunately, Kluber’s shakiness had more to it than met the eye. He did not return for the fourth inning and it was later revealed that he was suffering from right shoulder tightness. After you all collectively pick yourselves up off the floor from having fainted, know that Kluber made it clear it felt a lot different than last year’s shoulder injury. He said he had trouble getting loose and removed himself from the game out of an abundance of caution rather than pain. The best case scenario is that this is just residual tightness from pitching such a strenuous game last time out, but the shoulder is a tricky joint. Even if the MRI comes out ok, it would be in the Yankees and Kluber’s best interests to allow him ample time to recover on the IL, especially with a backup option as talented as Deivi Garcia. (UPDATE: Kluber was diagnosed with a shoulder strain and will be out for a minimum of two months. This is a tough blow for a pitcher who had been pitching really well before this. We’ll have more thoughts on this later on.)
Matz Silences the Bats
As has been a common theme this season, the Yankees were handled by a pitcher who didn’t pitch all that well. Steven Matz has been far from a Yankee killer in his career, but he held the Yankees to one run in 6.2 innings, striking out ten. The Yankees were hitting the ball hard, but not stringing together any base hits to score runs. They also did not hit a home run for the fifth time in their last seven games. Winning games with situational hitting is good and all, but it gets really hard to win when you’re not going to ever pop a dinger or two. The offensive standouts were Clint Frazier and Kyle Higashioka, who both recorded multi hit games. Higgy had his best offensive game in a while and drove in both the Yankee runs.
The other offensive “star” of the game, Clint Frazier, has had five hits in his last two games, so this could be the beginning of a much needed turnaround for him. Regardless, the Yankees offense has to do better than two runs against the Blue Jays. It’s not a sustainable strategy for success.
Rocky Pen
Kluber’s first two scoreless innings pushed the Yankee starting staff scoreless streak to an astounding 37 innings, which falls just shy of the mark set by the 1932 Yankees. However, Kluber’s rough finish and another poor bullpen performance left the final pitching line something to be desired. Michael King, Lucas Luetge, Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson combined to give up four runs in the last six innings of the game. It was the second straight game where the Yankees bullpen gave up four runs and although this isn’t super disastrous, is a noticeable blip on the record of a sterling crew this year. The law of averages may be rearing its ugly head again, but let’s hope this isn’t a foreshadowing of something worse for this group.
This has been a sad recap so let’s end on a cool Gio Urshela play. Your Alex Bregman could never!
Game 2: Yankees Lose 2-0
In the first game of a shortened doubleheader, the Yankees bats were lifeless against young Alek Manoah (and he is younger than me so I do get to say that) and wasted a quality outing by Domingo German, falling to the Jays 2-0. Short games deserve short recaps and bad games deserve short recaps, so this one really hits the sweet spot.
Ma-”No Offense”-ah
Alek Manoah had a very good major league debut and the Yankees are not hitting well at all right now. Both of those statements are true and credit/blame should be distributed evenly here. In a mostly empty Yankee Stadium, Manoah shut down New York through six shutout innings, only walking two and striking out seven. He was aggressive in pitching to this diminished lineup and who can blame him? More than half the lineup was hitting under .200 and they showed it in this game. The only Yankees offense were the two walks and two Miguel Andjuar singles. Alek pitched well, but the Yankees barely put up a fight. The Yankee offense has become A Problem and no matter how optimistic you are that they will improve, they have yet to show sustained signs of actually doing it. I am anti Blue Jays and anti losing, but one good thing has come of this: Alek puns might be making their way into the baseball mainstream.
Domingo Dingers
Domingo German put up another quality outing, but unfortunately did not throw a shutout and thus the Yankees could not hand him a win. German gave up two runs in five and ⅔ innings, both off of solo shots to Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien.
German has been excellent since being recalled from the alternate site, not giving up more than three runs in any outing, and today’s start was no exception. Domingo always has a bit of a home run problem, but if you’re only giving up solo shots, you’re doing alright for yourself. German has been poised enough to overcome the occasional home run and has had some impressive at bats this year. This strikeout of current MVP favorite Vlad Jr. was particularly notable.
Lucas Luetge followed German and pitched into and out of trouble in the eighth inning, but the damage had been done. It would sure be nice for the Yankees pitchers to be rewarded for only giving up two runs, but that seems like a pipe dream right now.
Game 3: Yankees Win 5-3
That’s more like it. Although Jordan Montgomery didn’t have the best outing, the Yankee bats were able to support him with some long balls and avoid the sweep in the second game of the double header. Who wants to see some homers? I sure do - let’s dive in!
Power Surge
Finally, in the series finale, the Yankee offense showed some signs of life. Gio Urshela opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI double, which could have been a multi RBI double if Aaron Judge didn’t get thrown out at home plate following DJ LeMahieu. I know offense has been hard to come by, but Phil Nevin was way too aggressive with the send there. Clint Frazier followed with a shot that missed being a home run by inches. It’s been that kind of season for Clint. The Yankees went down 3-1, but for the first time in a while, they rallied back via the long ball. First, Aaron Judge was given the 3-0 green light and slammed a ball 440 feet to deep center field to tie the game 3-3.
It was a welcome sign for a team that has struggled to knock the ball out of the park - only two home runs in the last week. With the score tied, it was time for some #HotGarySummer. Cue the video.
This was Sanchez’s seventh home run of the year and was hit even farther than Judge’s at a scintillating 444 feet. As you may know, this is a pro Gary Sanchez blog. We celebrate any positive Gary signs with tremendous vigor and a multi hit game from our guy is great news! Judge tacked on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning for his third RBI and the Yankees’ fifth run. For an offense starved team, this was manna from heaven.
Mediocre Monty
The up and down season of Jordan Montgomery continues. Coming off a start in which he struck out 11 against the first place White Sox, Monty turned in a subpar start against the Jays. The big blow came off the bat of Bo Bichette (try saying that five times fast), who is fast becoming a Yankee killer.
The Blue Jays have a few too many Yankee killers in my opinion. Montgomery didn’t make it to the fifth, giving up the three runs, only striking out one batter, and leaving a runner on for Jonathan Losiaiga. Johnny Lasagna, Wandy Peralta, and Chad Green locked down this win with some scoreless innings. Montgomery’s next start will come against Tampa, a team that he pitched extremely well against last time he faced them, and with Kluber on the IL, the Yankees need more consistency from their erstwhile lefty.
Baserunning Blunders
The Yankees have pitched well this year, but their offense has left something to be desired. In this game, they hit the dingers but did not run the bases well. They had two runners thrown out at home, adding to their MLB leading total of 25. First, Judge was nabbed at the plate in the first on Urshela’s double. Sanchez was later gunned down in the sixth on Florial’s double.
Carlos Mendoza, subbing in for Phil Nevin, needs to be better about sending runners. It’s been an ongoing problem for this team, especially when they’re not scoring many runs as it is. Something to watch as the season progresses.
It wasn’t the best week for the Yankees - their first baseman hit the IL with an oblique strain, their resurgent number #2 starter hit the IL with a shoulder strain, and we learned that their center fielder won’t be back for the rest of the year. However, they were able to close out the series with a win and tomorrow, they get back the Slugging Superstar Giancarlo Stanton to hopefully jumpstart this lineup. Have faith, friends, and tune back in tomorrow afternoon for the Detroit Tigers series preview!
