Batting Cleanup: Twin Killing

Batting Cleanup
Written By Will Harris
These two both had their power strokes on display in Minnesota (Jim Mone / AP)

These two both had their power strokes on display in Minnesota (Jim Mone / AP)

Nothing like a series with the Twins to get the season back on track, huh?

Game 1: Yankees Win 8-4

I mean this without intending to offend my one friend who is a Twins fan, and we discussed this before the series began, but the Twins were exactly the team that needed to show up on the schedule after the Yankees had just about everything go wrong in a 2-5 week.

Early Struggles

Jordan Montgomery has commented on his relative inability to prevent early offense in the past, and unfortunately it was more of the same on Tuesday. When DJ LeMahieu started the game off with a double, it seemed the tide might have turned, but the Yankees stranded him, and then Monty took the hill.

Gio Urshela failed to make the play on a bouncing ball down the line that Josh Donaldson hit (though he succeeded in keeping it in the infield), putting a runner on first. Despite getting Jorge Polanco to fly out for the second out, Montgomery allowed back-to-back hits with two strikes to Miguel Sano and Ryan Jeffers, giving the Twins a quick 2-0 lead.

Settling In

Montgomery allowed 2 more hits in the second but stranded both runners, and then allowed just one hit combined in the third through fifth innings. He came out to pitch the sixth, and got two quick outs. All really good!

Things got less good after that. Trevor Larnach singled and Aaron Boone walked out to the mound, apparently poised to bring in Jonathan Loaisiga. Montgomery appeared to convince Boone to allow him to stay in to face Rob Refsnyder, who doubled to deep left center to tie the game. All in, Monty went 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 6 K in a no decision. That’s a fine start against a very good lineup.

The Boys… Bopped?

For a while in this game, the Yankees looked like the same old team we have seen for much of this year. They failed to plate baserunners in the first and fourth, but got on the board in the fifth, in their typical, futile way.

A walk and two singles brought Aaron Judge to the plate with the bases loaded. He worked a walk to drive in a run and bring Gleyber to the plate. The Yankees scored their second run of the game on a wild pitch, but did not get another hit in the inning and left two runners on base.

They started to hit the ball in the sixth, when Gary singled, Rougie doubled him to third, and Gardy drove him in with a sac fly. They continued it in the eighth, when two singles, a bunt, and two ground balls scored two more runs.

In the ninth, it got really fun, and the boys set the tone for the rest of the series. Gary and Miggy (did you hear I have a Miguel Andújar Stan Account?) hit bombs to put the Yankees up 8-3 and put the game out of reach of the Twins. Check them out.

Notes

  • Gary Sanchez had a multi-hit game that he capped off with that homer

  • DJ had 2 hits including his first XBH in a LONG TIME

  • Miggy had 2 hits and scored 3 runs

  • The Yankees only struck out 5 times, if you care

  • They scored runs on outs at 3 different times, weird

Game 2: Yankees Win 9-6

This was the first time all year that the Yankees won a game in which they allowed 5 or more runs. Progress!

Early and Often

The Yankees, just as they were supposed to, jumped on the Uber driver himself, Randy Dobnak, with a home run from Aaron Judge to open the scoring, and a double from Giancarlo Stanton to kick off his BIG night.

Stanton, Andújar, and… Stanton all homered later in the game, constituting an imminent danger to the rest of major league baseball. Brett Gardner added an RBI double as part of a 3-hit game, Miggy added a sac-fly, and when it was all over the Yankees had scored 9 runs.

Their 15 hits tied their season high (April 30 against Detroit) and they scored 8+ runs in back-to-back games for the first time this year. Isn’t it the best when the boys bop?

Gerrit Cole Is Not Scared of You

Some comments from Josh Donaldson earlier in the week placed Gerrit Cole firmly in the middle of the foreign substance discussion, so Gerrit Cole responded by asserting his dominance over the Minnesota Twins, and Donaldson specifically.

Cole went 6 IP, allowing 5 H and 2 R while striking out 9, including two strikeouts of Donaldson, who was not happy. Want to see both strikeouts?

There they are.

And I know what you’re thinking, “Will, was Josh Donaldson happy or sad about those strikeouts against the guy who he had accused of egregiously cheating?”

I am glad you asked. Josh Donaldson was not the happiest about this.

Hahahahaha. This is awesome. I can’t believe that there were real human people out there who:

  1. Thought that Gerrit Cole would be bad because he can’t put a little of whatever it is he was using on his fingers

  2. Thought Gerrit Cole would hit Josh Donaldson instead of just fully asserting dominance over him

It was a nice performance from Cole, who struggled in his previous start and could hardly have been blamed for being distracted in this one, if he had been. But our delightful, long-haired ace whose ERA is down to 2.31 on the season. He’s sporting a 175 ERA+, and leading the league in both K/BB ratio and BB/9.

Brooks Kriske Is Cancelled

The Yankees were up 9-2 in the ninth, and took out Luis Cessa to bring in the inimitable Brooks Kriske. The Twins were a double short of the cycle in the inning, and scored 4 runs to turn a laugher into a 3-run game. Here’s an idea: it is a bad thing for Brooks Kriske to be on the Yankees. You should not have to get your closer up in the ninth inning of a game if that inning started at 9-2. I’ve fully seen enough from him, and it was rude of him to sour the end of a really good game.

Game 3: Yankees Lose 7-5

More of the Same

For the second time in the series, the Yankees faced a former Yankee, and for the second time in the series, the Yankees hit him hard.

JA Happ was on the mound for the Twins and the Yankees responded to that move with… extreme prejudice. DJ LeMahieu drove a ball deep into right field which was unfortunately caught, and then the Yankees stopped getting out for a period of time. Aaron Judge ripped a single to right center, Gleyber poked one into short right field, and then Giancarlo Stanton came up.

Given how Wednesday went, I think it was pretty clear what G was going to do against a pitcher as Hap(p)less as JA (had to do it).

Gio Urshela proceeded to hit a triple, and then ended the inning on … whatever this was? I struggle to understand how Gio was not called safe upon review because Happ was blocking* (* read: sitting on) the plate… but whatever, it was a very good first inning.

Gio got his revenge on JA Happ later, when he launched this home run to deeeeeeep left.

All in, Happ went 5 innings allowing 4 runs on 6 hits, walking 1, striking out 2, and allowing the two long home runs. It’s so nice to be hitting against JA Happ.

Also this happened, which was rude.

With the Yankees up 4-2 in the sixth, Gary ripped a single because of #HotGarySummer, Andújar got a hit on a bleeder up the third base line, Gittens nearly grounded into a double play, but some smart baserunning by Gary to confuse Josh Donaldson limited the damage to one out, and then DJ poked an RBI single up the middle to score Andújar.

End the Mike King Experiment?

Mike King made yet another start for the New York Yankees, who claim to be a real Major League baseball team. He lasted just 3.2 IP, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. He didn’t look as sharp as he did for much of the Boston start, nor did he provide the length he has provided in the past. To his credit, he did not give up the big blow like he did against Boston, and kept the Yankees in the lead after they jumped on Happ early. Either way, I cannot see any reason why Mike King should be pitching in these games instead of Deivi Garcia.

Really I’m not sure what I am supposed to expect from Mike King. Is he like a bulk guy spot starter or is he a real member of the rotation? Is he pitching after Gerrit Cole so he is protected by a rested bullpen? Who and what is he supposed to be? We’d be calling this a bad start if a REAL starter provided it, but it wouldn’t be horrible if he’d come in and provided it after an opener. I’m really not sure what to make of this situation, but he didn’t give up the lead, which is lit.

Brilliant Bullpen (and Wandy Peralta)

The Yankees had to go to the bullpen in the fourth, but Luetge and Loaisiga combined to get the next 7 outs to send the Yankees to the seventh with the lead.

With the Yankees up by 3, Wandy Peralta came out to pitch the seventh. He got both Josh Donaldson and Nick Gordon to hit ground balls, but Nick Gordon’s .100 xBA ball got through the infield. Peralta threw a wild pitch to allow Gordon to advance to second, and then let Nelson Cruz rip a double to the wall in left to score Gordon, making it 5-3. Wandy got Trevor Larnach to ground out to third, and Boone gave the ball to Chad Green to face Miguel Sanó with Cruz at second and two outs.

Chad got two quick strikes on Sanó with some filth, but proceeded to throw him three straight balls after that. Because Chad Green is great, he threw Sanó a nasty, tight curveball for the swinging strikeout, and sent the Yankees to the eighth up 5-3.

Chad was generous enough to stick around for the eighth, and I’m glad he did. He struck out Ryan Jeffers, got Andrelton Simmons to pop up to Gio in foul territory, and when Gilberto Celestino hit a ball off the wall in left, Miguel Andújar (renowned for his defense) threw him out trying to stretch his single into a double. That play sent the Yankees to the ninth with the lead.

Bad Bullpen

Chapman came on to pitch the ninth, putting his 1047 ERA+ on the line against the top of Minnesota’s order.

He promptly went to 3-1 on Jorge Polanco before allowing a bullet single through the left side of the infield, bringing Josh Donaldson to the plate as the tying run.

Donaldson scored that tying run shortly, launching a 438-foot home run to tie the game. Willians Astudillo roped a single to left center on the next pitch, and then Nelson Cruz ended it with a 457-foot homer of his own on the last pitch of the game. All in, hitters were 4-4 with 2 singles and 2 homers off Chapman, and the Twins scored 4 runs to win the game without recording a single out.

His ERA went from 0.39 to 1.96 in this one appearance alone, and he took his second blown save and first loss of the year.

We can see that Chapman’s fastball velocity was down a little bit, and the Twins feasted on it. Let’s hope it’s not a symptom of anything serious.

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This was an intensely disappointing loss, as the Yankees looked to be in control and had their closer in the game with a 2-run lead, just 3 outs away from a sweep. Either way, the Yankees got a much-needed series win, and the bats appear to be awake again. Keep it going against Philly.

Let’s go Yankees.

Will Harris
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