Batting Cleanup: These Bros Ain’t Royal

Batting Cleanup
Written By Will Harris
Gary remained scary in this series, socking key homers in each victory, as #HotGarySummer rolled on (AP)

Gary remained scary in this series, socking key homers in each victory, as #HotGarySummer rolled on (AP)

Game 1: Yankees Lose 6-5

Did Anyone Miss Luke Voit?

It didn’t take long for Luke Voit to make a difference in this one. After Gerrit Cole worked a 14-pitch first inning, and DJ and Judge grounded out, Voit stepped to the plate for his first at-bat off the IL. Luke Voit was not interested in being patient, and decided that the best way to announce his return was to LAUNCH a ball to left field. At over 109 MPH, it didn’t take this ball long to get out. 423 feet later, it was 1-0 Yankees.

Voit went on to hit a triple (fan interference may have stolen a wall-scraping homer from him) later in the game. It sure is nice to have this guy back in the lineup.

The Home Run Stroka

My disdain for the “Kyle Higashioka ought to be the starting catcher” is well-documented, but that doesn’t stop me from absolutely loving it when he produces in a backup role.

That’s what made this home run so nice. It was disappointing not to see Gary catching Cole, particularly because Gary has been such a hot hitter of late. Higgy’s homer softened the blow of losing Gary’s presumed offensive production.

Clearly things had been quite bad. The indignation over Gary not starting and Cole’s insistence on Higgy being his personal catcher (or the organization’s insistence on maintaining the personal catcher situation) was certainly justified, but this was a nice way for Higgy to make amends for some of it.

Cole Train Rolls On

Imagine being one of the idiots who thought that Gerrit Cole would become a bad pitcher because he can’t use Spider Tack. It’s really a shocking thing.

Cole was his usual, dominant self. He allowed 2 runs on just 3 hits over 7 innings and struck out 6. His 3 walks were well above what you’d expect, but he gave the Yankees exactly the kind of start they’d take from him every time. I find his 2.33 ERA perfectly acceptable.

Bless our long-haired ace.

The #RISPFail is Strong With This One

Did the Yankees leave 13 runners on base in this game? Yes. Were they 0-10 with runners in scoring position? Yes. Have they been generally terrible with runners in scoring position all year? Yes. Is it getting frustrating? Yes. Should their stats with runners in scoring position eventually normalize to their season hitting stats and therefore improve soon enough? Yes. Does the fact that I anticipate regression to the mean make the futility of this team with guys on base any easier to handle? No.

The Yankees left 2 or more runners on base in 5 different innings and, in so doing, made a bunch of pitchers who are mediocre at best look phenomenal. That story is all too common this year and it’s a shame that an offense this talented manages to fail so consistently.

Lasagna With No Cheese

Ok, let’s get out in front of this one. The Yankees brought Jonathan Loaisiga into the eighth inning of a game that they were winning. He allowed two quick hits, on balls hit quite hard, and immediately got the Yankees into some trouble. The tying run is his fault.

The rest of the runs are Tyler Wade’s fault. He made a poor play on what ended up being the game-tying infield single by Ryan O’Hearn, and that effectively took an out off the board. There should have been two outs after that play. As a result, when Jarrod Dyson hit him a routine ground ball as the next batter, Wade should’ve simply been able to flip to DJ at first to end in the inning. Instead, there was one out, Wade hesitated, decided he could not turn two because Dyson is too fast, double clutched before throwing home, and did not record a single out on the play. We won’t re-litigate if turning two was possible. Sure, Loaisiga allowed a couple of singles after that, but those batters never should have come up. I don’t blame Jonny for this one.

The Comeback That Wasn’t

DJ LeMahieu hit a two-run homer in the eighth to bring the Yankees back within one run. It was sick. Thank you for elevating the ball and slugging lately, David John.

Aaron Judge doubled off the wall in left center as the next batter, but was stranded on second base. The Yankees threatened in the ninth as well, but failed to score. It was a tough loss that felt intensely self-inflicted. You can’t be doing this when games are precious. A 7 IP, 2 ER performance from Cole should be enough to win for this team every time. Unfortunately, quite often that has not been the case.

Do better, Yankees.

Game 2: Yankees Win 6-5

I Thought We Were Done With Monarchy

Yet the Yankees continue to start Mike King…

It was a classic Mike King outing, really. He got two quick outs in the first, then allowed a double and a homer to put the Yankees in a hole early. He settled in after, but not for long. In the fifth inning, a walk, an intentional walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases, and Boone had seen enough.

The final line for King was 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 K, 3 BB. Can we stop doing this? Please?

RISP… Success?

Look, not every Yankee can be as good as Clint Frazier. After Rougned Odor struck out with the bases loaded in the second inning to seal another fruitless inning, it appeared that Wednesday’s game would be a carbon copy of Tuesday’s.

Clint Frazier made sure that would not be the case. In the bottom of the fourth with two runners on and two men out, Clint ripped a double into right field to tie the game. Bless Red Thunder and his sporadic but clutch offensive production.

Were the Yankees stellar with RISP outside of this? Not exactly. Do I care? Absolutely not.

Chad Green Is Simply Incredible

By failing to throw 5 innings, Mike King placed a significant burden on the bullpen. Chad Green did not care. He got the last out of the fifth with the bases loaded to ensure the game remained tied. He then worked 1-2-3 innings in the sixth AND seventh because one does not simply hit Chad Green. Is he outperforming his expected stats? Yes. Do I care? No. Chad Green slaps and if you don’t agree you’re wrong. Huge performance by Chad to keep the game tied and navigate some key innings without requiring anyone else from the bullpen to pitch.

Who Am I Kidding? RISPFail Strikes Again

UGH.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Luke Voit struck out in what was not really a competitive at-bat. That sent the game into the eighth tied as opposed to the Yankees carrying a big lead, which they really should have been. Through 7 innings, the Yankees were 1-5 with RISP (really not terrible) but had left 9 runners on base, largely thanks to leaving the bases loaded twice. Maybe stop doing that?

Remember When I Said It Was Not A Carbon Copy of Tuesday? That Was A Lie

On Tuesday, the Yankees handed the ball to a trusted reliever in the eighth inning, and he blew it (well, kinda). On Wednesday, they did the same thing.

Zack Britton came in to pitch the eighth, which marked his first appearance since the Toronto series. Carlos Santana, who led off the inning, broke the 2-2 tie when he deposited Britton’s second pitch of the inning into the left field bleachers. This is why it is important to score when you have traffic on the bases. Solo shots should not beat you, but I spy a big solo shot in this game.

Did They Find It Late?

Oh they sure did. Rougned Odor, whose continued presence on this team you’d be well within your rights to question, came up in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and Clint Frazier on first. As far as I was concerned, the best possible outcome of Rougie’s at-bat was a walk that brought DJ to the plate with the tying run in scoring position. Rougie far exceeded my expectations.

Jack Curry noted that this home run was quite unlikely, especially from a guy who has been below average offensively since 2016.

While this was not a hit with a runner in scoring position, it did wonders for the left-on-base numbers and gave the Yankees the lead late. Pay attention to Luis Cessa in the video. The ball lands in the bullpen and he just goes to sit down! He knew that Odor had just put this game in Chapman’s hands.

So…. About The Game Being In Chapman’s Hands

Alright. Imagine you are making scrambled eggs. At the beginning of the process, you accidentally get some shell in the pan. Bad start. You get it figured out though and fish out the piece of shell with the rest of the shell and continue cooking. As you’re scrambling the eggs, you suddenly become distracted by the beautiful smells they’re producing, and forget that you shouldn’t have the heat on so high and before you know it you’ve overcooked your eggs and ruined the meal.

That’s kind of how this game went. Aroldis Chapman came in with the lead after Rougned Odor saved the game, and all he had to do was get 3 outs without giving up a run. Pretty run of the mill assignment for a closer. He started off the inning by striking out Hunter Dozier. Great! Eggs smelling terrific. After Michael A. Taylor singled into center on a well-struck ground ball, Chapman got Hanser Alberto to strike out looking as well. Eggs are smelling great at this point. You’re going over to the fridge to get some hot sauce, or maybe toasting up some bread to go with them.

That’s when it all went wrong. Whit Merrifield singled to right field on a ball that was somehow placed perfectly in fair territory but just out of the reach of Aaron Judge. First and third, two outs. Everything is still fine! Any kind of out ends the game, and the Yankees win. Aren’t these eggs smelling good? It’s a good thing the stove is on high heat so you can cook them so quickly. With a base open, Boone elected to walk Carlos Santana (who did some big damage earlier in the game) to set up Chapman to face Sebastian Rivero, who does not have a hit at the Major League level, with the bases loaded. Chapman did not throw Rivero a single strike, and that 4-pitch walk tied the game. Ryan O’Hearn came up next and drove in his 3rd run of the game with an excuse me, check swing, infield single. Brutal. Royals lead 5-4. You just looked back at your stove and those eggs are scorched. Nearly beyond recovery.

#HOTGARYSUMMER AND BENEVOLENT MONARCHY

Once Chapman escaped the top of the inning by getting Jarrod Dyson to ground out, the task for the Yankees was clear: find a way to score a run off Greg Holland and prolong this game. The Yankees threatened against Holland on Tuesday night but did not cash in, and that needed to change on Wednesday. A 4-pitch strikeout of Aaron Judge kicked off the inning, and things looked bleak.

That is, things looked bleak until Gary Sanchez stepped to the plate and ripped a 1-2 pitch into the left field seats to tie the game. #HotGarySummer is such a thing it’s ridiculous. Gary’s wRC+ climbed to 126 (within 5 percentage points of his 2017 level) after the dinger. What an unbelievably good player. Take a look.

You just found some leftover fried rice in the fridge, and you’re thinking you might be able to throw it in the pan with your eggs and maybe some butter and soy sauce and salvage the situation.

Giancarlo Stanton came up next and rapped a single into right field at a measly 109.8 MPH (Gary scoffed after clubbing his homer at nearly 111 MPH) to put the tying run on base. Tyler Wade took Stanton’s spot at first, and advanced to second on a ball in the dirt, setting Luke Voit up for the most consequential RISP success of the day.

With two strikes (how about these guys and their two-strike hits?), King Louis mashed a ball into deep left field, over Jarrod Dyson’s head, and off the wall. Voit, Michael Kay, my dad, and I all thought it was gone. It didn’t need to get out, it just needed not to be caught, and it certainly was not caught. Wade scored easily, and the Yankees somehow won a game that both Britton and Chapman did their best to give away.

You throw the fried rice, the only shot you had at salvaging the eggs, onto a plate. It’s delicious. You’ve done it. You’re basically a chef.

Notes

  • I guess we might as well keep an eye on spin rates, as stupid as this whole situation is and as poorly as it is being handled. Sample sizes of just one game are probably silly to use, but if we want to rely on them, then we can assume that Mike King, Zack Britton, and Chad Green were all either not sticky stuff guys or are good at hiding their special substance, and that Aroldis Chapman is missing whatever he used in the past. Chapman has also reportedly been dealing with a fingernail issue and it’s reasonable to me that such an issue could affect the way he grips the ball, so maybe it’s an anomaly, but I don’t love that he’s been showing decreased spin rates and a lack of control lately. Something to watch.

  • The Yankees had 4 hits going into the ninth inning. They got 3 hits IN A ROW in the ninth. You can’t figure baseball.

  • The Yankees left 10 guys on base, which isn’t what you want, but they were 2-6 with RISP which I will absolutely take.

  • Great freaking win. #HotGarySummer

Game 3: Yankees Win 8-1

Take A Shot Every Time They Say Thursday Matinee… If You Want To Get Fired

I laugh at this every time they play a day game during the work week. We get it! They’re playing at 1:00 instead of 7:00! Freak out about it I guess!

Finish your drink every time someone says "getaway day” if you want to truly seal your fate.

Speaking Of Drinking, How About Jamo?

Jameson Taillon had quite a time of things but it was broadly… not that bad?

In each of the first two innings, he allowed a runner to get to third with one out. In the first, Whit Merrifield led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout by Santana. Taillon stranded him with a strikeout and a groundout. In the second, Hanser Alberto doubled off the wall in left on a ball that Yankees Twitter really felt like Clint should have caught. He advanced to third on a bunt by Jarrod Dyson. Taillon stranded Alberto with a strikeout and a fly ball. It was really nice to see him recovering.

The third inning was his best, when he struck out Sebastian Rivero and Whit Merrifield before getting Carlos Santana to ground out to end his first 1-2-3 inning. Is Jameson Taillon… actually good?

Even when he got into some trouble in the fourth by hitting Hanser Alberto and allowing an opposite field single to Jarrod Dyson with two outs, he got Michael A. Taylor to fly out to Judge harmlessly to end the inning. This was a legitimately good version of Jameson Taillon. Guess all the Yankees needed was some Jamo during the work day.

Look, Jamo wasn’t going to go out there and pitch a shutout, so I think we were all expecting his bad fifth inning. He allowed back-to-back hits, a single and a double, to Nicky Lopez and Sebastian Rivero, which put the Royals on the board. That was Rivero’s first career hit, so for the rest of his life he will get to say he got a hit off Jameson Taillon. Cool.

The lineup turned over after Rivero, and Jamo walked Whit Merrifield, which suddenly brought Carlos Santana to the plate as the tying run. He hit a ball to the warning track that Clint caught. Salvy Perez came up next and got positively BABIPed, as he hit a ball with a .690 xBA that Rougie caught. if that wasn’t bad enough for the Royals, Rougie was able to double off Rivero at second and end the inning, salvaging a good start for Taillon. You can’t figure baseball.

Did Aaron Boone get greedy? Maybe. He sent Taillon out to face 4-5-6 in the Kansas City order, and somehow it worked perfectly. Yankee Killer Ryan O’Hearn grounded out, and Hanser Alberto and Jarrod Dyson both flied out (to Clint and Gardy) to end the inning. Forgive me, but I did not see 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 1 BB coming from Jamo. I’m pretty psyched about it, but I did not see it coming.

Here I was thinking the start was over, and then Boone sent Jamo out with 83 pitches to start the SEVENTH inning too! This was ERA manipulation at its finest and boy was I… weirdly alright with it? The bottom of the lineup was coming up, and it looked to be a pretty good idea with a 6-run lead and the bottom of the lineup coming up. Taillon struck out Michael A. Taylor, walked Nicky Lopez, and ended his day there. 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 K, 2 BB on 96 pitches is phenomenal. Best start of the year for Jamo, and I hope this means he is really turning things around.

He’s Here And He’s Perfect: Nestor Cortes

Nestor came on to relieve Jamo, and got Sebastian Rivero to fly out before striking out Whit Merrifield to end the inning. Nestor Cortes is your favorite reliever’s favorite reliever.

Alright, so he wasn’t technically perfect as he did walk Hunter Dozier, but he was perfect to me. He nailed down the win without allowing a run, and saved the rest of the bullpen for the upcoming series with the Red Sox.

Isn’t Hitting Bad Pitchers Fun?

The Royals started Brad Keller, who came into the game with a 6.34 ERA. Between a combination of giving up homers, getting victimized by the shift, and generally not being a very good pitcher, his ERA went up.

The Yankees struck early, with Aaron Judge poking a homer into the short porch in the first inning. Hits by Gary, Santon, and Odor plated a second run in the inning.

In the second, walks by Wade and DJ put two runners on for Judge, who singled Wade home to put the Yankees up 3-0.

In the third, Voit homered to right to plate the fourth run for the Yankees. After the Royals were completely apathetic about fielding a pop up by Odor, Clint came up to face Keller and hit what was, at that point, the farthest ball of the game. He barreled it up at 104.7 MPH, but it was caught on the warning track because nothing good happens to Clint. The guy is cursed. Either way, it’s good to see him hitting the ball hard. Never going to complain about that.

Take a look at some of the early RBIs. I enjoyed them. I hope you do too.

This really did feel like a departure from the typical way the Yankees operate. The Royals pitched a guy who isn’t any good, and the Yankees hit him hard. They hit a couple of homers, they placed singles well, and they consistently hit the ball with authority. That’s what good teams do when faced with bad pitchers, and it was a welcome sight, especially with Taillon on the mound. Thank you, the Yankees.

Also, let’s just pause for a second and appreciate how great it is to have Luke Voit back. The way he changes the lineup is impossible to ignore, and he is ripping lasers all over the place because that’s the kind of hitter he is. Missed you, Louis.

In the bottom of the fifth, a single by Stanton and a double by Odor (on a ball he hit to left center, somehow) brought Clint Frazier to the plate with one man out. Clint walked, putting the Yankees in their favorite situation - bases loaded. In typical 2021 Yankees fashion, Brett Gardner popped out and Tyler Wade struck out looking. Pretty cool of them. Jerks.

Even still, the Yankees raised Brad Keller’s already-astronomical ERA with their 4 ER in 5 innings off of him, and forced the Royals to go to Anthony Swarzak (former Yankee) in the sixth. He promptly allowed a single and a double to DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge to bring Gary Sanchez to the plate with a chance to extend #HotGarySummer and the lead. He did both. Gary launched a 421-foot home run into left center to put the Yankees up 7-1 and strengthen his case to be an All Stare (vote here). It was a whole lot of fun.

That put the game out of reach and sealed the win for the Yankees.

Parting Shots

This was a good series. The way they lost game 1 was a real shame, but they came back strong in game 2 to avoid a heartbreaking loss and carried their momentum into game 3 where they left absolutely no doubt. The team went 4-10 with RISP in game 3, and Judge, Voit, and Gary all homered. Judge, Gary, G, and Odor all had multi-hit games on Thursday too. This offense is a beautiful thing when it’s clicking, and man did it click in the rubber match.

Keep your eyes peeled for a podcast with a very special guest and a preview of this weekend’s HUGE series with Boston coming soon.

Let’s go Yankees.

Will Harris
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