Batting Cleanup: Has Anyone Ever Enjoyed a Trip to Detroit?

Batting Cleanup
Written By Will Harris
You’ll find upon reading this that the Justin Wilson game broke me (AP)

You’ll find upon reading this that the Justin Wilson game broke me (AP)

Game 1: Yankees Lose 3-2 (10 innings)

I’m not mad about a #1 overall pick giving the Yankees trouble. I’m mad about them scoring only 2 runs on 11 hits and going 0-10 with runners in scoring position. Capitalize on your opportunities.

I’m Mr. Casey Mize-r

In a matchup of #1 overall picks, Casey Mize held his own. He was facing a big challenge starting opposite Gerrit Cole, and he rose to the occasion.

Mize twirled 5 impressive innings, during which he scattered 5 hits, allowed just 1 run, and did not walk a batter. Remember when I tried to act like his Baseball Savant page was at all informative in the series preview? Yeah, so much for that.

Through 4 innings, Mize had allowed just 2 hits, both to Aaron Judge, and was cruising. Thankfully, Rougie was able to square him up for a homer in the fifth, but that was all the damage the Yankees would do. They did a nice job driving up his pitch count, forcing him to throw 97 pitches to get through 5 innings, but he kept the Tigers in the game.

Baby It’s Cole Outside

It was 46 degrees (that’s Fahrenheit, guys) in Detroit on Friday night, and Cole wasn’t quite as sharp as he normally is. It was his third start in a row in which you could tell he didn’t quite have it. His only 1-2-3 innings were the second and fourth, and he was not striking people out at anything close to a typical Gerrit Cole pace. It didn’t seem like he had the control he normally has (and the weather may have had something to do with that) and he had to grind just to get through 6 innings.

Despite allowed a lot of traffic on the base paths (6 H and 1 BB), Cole limited the damage to 1 ER. He only struck out 5 Tigers, but got some of them in big spots, including a huge swinging strikeout of Nomar Mazara to end his outing (end of the video).

I wasn’t joking about his control, though. Look at where his sliders and curveballs ended up on Friday night.

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A good number of these pitches are simply non-competitive. Cole threw a lot of breaking balls that did not have any chance of being strikes, and still managed to throw 6 innings of 1-run ball on 103 pitches. That’s how good this guy is. He struggled pretty significantly in this game, and his ERA went DOWN. It’s 1.78 now. Sources tell me that’s good.

The Case of the Missing Offense

The anemic offense of the New York Yankees traveled with them to Detroit. You absolutely hate to see it. I’m not necessarily going to blame them for getting shut down by a #1 overall pick (hey, I doubt the Tigers are kicking themselves for not destroying Gerrit Cole), but I would not have minded them producing a bit more against guys like Kyle Funkhouser and Jose Cisnero, who are worth a collective 0.2 bWAR in their 138 combined appearances.

The Tigers had trouble stopping Rougie Odor (and also Aaron Judge, because duh), who had a four-hit game, highlighted by this home run.

Here’s hoping he is getting back into “running into pitches and turning them into homers” mode, because it’s fun. Just let me Odor you, Rougie.

Through 8 innings, the Yankees were 0-6 with RISP, and had left 9 runners on base. Thank you Robert Manfred. I was not taking it well.

The Yankees pinch hit Gary for Higgy to lead off the ninth, and he popped up to Cabrera at first base. They then sent Miguel Andújar (I love Miguel Andújar) up to hit for Gardy, and he lined a clean single into right field. Tyler Wade came in to pinch run, and advanced to second, and then to third, on two wild pitches by Gregory Soto.

After a DJ LeMahieu walk, Giancarlo Stanton stepped to the plate with a chance to play the hero in his first game back from the IL and struck out. It came down to Aaron Judge. He struck out too. Absolutely brutal stuff. Moved them to 0-8 with RISP in the game. So many opportunities, no capitalizing on them.

DJ LeMechavarria

DJ LeMahieu made a run-saving play in the bottom of the eighth. With Robbie Grossman on second and one man out, Jeimer Candelario ripped a ball toward right field at 108.4 MPH. The xBA on this one was .880, but DJ made the Adeiny Hechavarria play to snag it out of the air.

Gary Freakin’ Sanchez #HotGarySummer

After Chapman walked Jonathan Schoop to start the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers sent in Akil Baddoo to pinch run. Chapman was wild against the next batter, Nomar Mazara, but Gary bailed him out. He blocked a breaking ball in the dirt and then fired a bullet to first to nab Baddoo who got caught straying too far from the bag. Chapman struck out Mazara on the next pitch and got Eric Haase to fly out to Clint to end the threat.

Free Baseball

This game went to extras, not that I was all that interested in seeing any more of it (as you can probably tell).

With Judge as the “Manfred Man” on second, Gio waved at a 3-2 slider that was WAY out of the strike zone to record the first out (Yankees 0-9 with RISP). Gleyber Torres, likely the guy you want at the plate with a runner in scoring position grounded out (Yankees 0-10 with RISP), bringing Rougie to the plate with Judge on third.

Bryan Garcia’s 1-1 pitch to Odor found the backstop, allowing Judge to score and putting the Yankees up 2-1. I’m beginning to think I have strange powers. Right after I tweeted this…

…this happened.

So that was quite something, and raised this question.

Here’s How It Ended

Gosh, it’s such a shame that a middle-aged dude looking over the catcher’s shoulder is the most accurate way to call balls and strikes and that there is no technology that exists on the whole planet that could do it better. Well, at least it never affects the outcome of a game.

Notes

  • Gio Urshela walked on 3 balls in the sixth inning. It’s funny how you can see something you’ve never seen before even after watching a ton of baseball, check out the plate appearance below

  • Rougned Odor came into this game hitting .160 and left it hitting .198 because getting 4 hits is sick

  • Miguel Andújar’s hit in the ninth bumped his season average up to .241… I think Miguel Andújar is happening again

Game 2: Yankees Lose 6-1

I did not watch a lot of this game and I don’t feel bad about it. Deivi got screwed, and I hate that they sent him back down. They’re really going to give Mike King this rotation spot? At least trade for someone who can make an impact if you lose a guy who can make an impact and you’re not willing to use your star prospect.

Grab the Turnbull by the Horns

Spencer Turnbull, he of no-hitter fame, handled the Yankees deftly in this one. I guess in the preview when I said “This is EXACTLY the type of guy with whom the Yankees would struggle” about Turnbull, I was right.

He went 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R (on a GIDP by Andújar with the bases loaded), 6 K, 3 BB. The Yankees hardly ever threatened outside of when they loaded the bases and did next to nothing with it in the second. Detroit’s bullpen came in to finish the sixth, and then no-hit the Yankees in the seventh, eighth, and ninth (allowing just one walk) to finish it off.

Sometimes It’s Just Not Your Day-vi

Deivi Garcia was back on the mound for the Yankees on Saturday to make his second start of the season, and it could have gone better. He looked incredible in the first inning, but worked himself into some trouble in the second. He appeared to be making a Houdini-like escape after putting runners on first and second with nobody out and loading the bases with two outs, but Rougie did this on a Willi Castro ground ball.

It was scored a hit, so only the second run, which truly scored on Rougie’s wide throw, was unearned… but come on. Just flip the ball to second and end the inning. How hard would it have been? Or just make a good throw? I get that it’s a tough play with him moving to his right, but he’s a major leaguer for a reason. This is also, of course, the problem with not playing Gio Urshela. DJ might make that play if he’s at second, and then it’s a different story. It should’ve been 1-0 Yankees after 2, instead it was 2-1 Detroit.

Deivi settled back in for a 1-2-3 third inning, but got burned by his defense again in the fourth. Brett Gardner’s questionable fielding of this Eric Haase fly ball turned either an out or a double into a triple, and an otherwise harmless fly out by Niko Goodrum into an RBI sac fly.

Deivi gave up doubles to two of the three batters he faced in the fifth, and that was all for him. I’m not even going to give you his line because I think he got screwed. What I will tell you is that he only walked 1 batter and had 3 strikeouts. He did not allow any homers. His FIP today was 3.12, and his ERA was 8.31. Bad BABIP luck and bad defense will do that to you.

Albert Abreu came in to relieve Deivi and promptly allowed a sac fly and a homer. That put the Tigers up 6-1, and literally nothing else happened in the game. Just a terrible performance by the Yankees.

Game 3: Yankees Lose 6-2

Pain

Sometime’s it’s better to show than to tell how a game went, and I think these clips do a good job of that.

Punt Game (Punt Series?)

The last 6 pitchers the Yankees have used are Justin Wilson (to preserve a 1-run lead), Deivi Garcia, Albert Abreu, Mike King, Nestor Cortes Jr., and Nick Nelson. Do those look like the guys you pitch if you need to win a game?

They sat Gio and Giancarlo in the same game after they lost a tough one on Friday. They didn’t start Taillon in the third game. They played some sloppy defense, and ultimately they paid for it.

Hit???

The Yankees were 2-25 with runners in scoring position. They alternated in this series between not hitting and not hitting when it mattered. They played bad defense. They got dominated by mediocre pitchers and a terrible team.

Add a bat. There’s no excuse to play like this going into series with the Rays and Red Sox. Figure it out. They followed up a 6-1 week with a 1-5 week. Still up, but my gosh is that disappointing.

It all felt very much like that playoff series that ended with A-Rod doing one of these.

We’ll have a Rays preview and a podcast (with a very special guest) for you tomorrow. Let’s go Yankees.

Will Harris
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