Series Recap: Yanks Recover For Series Win Against Nationals
Photo Via: Vincent Carchietta — USA TODAY SportsThe Yankees entered weekend play with a two-series winning streak. The overall attitude was flattened a little bit by the final Houston game, but 5-1 through the first 6 games of the home stand is nothing to shake your fist at. After a rough Friday night game to start this series, the Yankees rebounded and took the next two. The wins were not pretty, but they were wins.
Game 1 (Nationals 11, Yankees 4)
The party got started early. D.J. LeMahieu led off the bottom of the first with a short porch homer off Nationals starter Patrick Corbin.
The Nationals jumped on Jameson Taillon in response the following half-inning. Josh Bell hit a solo shot to center, which was followed up by a two-run homer from Yan Gomes.
Gary Sánchez homered in the bottom of the second to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Nationals. The next run of the game was scored in the sixth inning on D.J. LeMahieu’s second solo homer of the night (6th home run of his career against Corbin). The game was tied 3-3 heading into the eighth inning, but it did not stay that way for long.
The Nationals put up 6 runs in the eighth, thanks in part to three errors (Judge, LeMahieu, and Torres) and a 3-run homer by Josh Harrison. Jonathan Loaisiga and Luis Cessa each had their first troublesome outings of the season, but ultimately no reliever would have survived that onslaught of defensive miscues.
Juan Soto added a 2-run homer off Cessa in the ninth for good measure. A single by Clint Frazier in the ninth brought us to our 11-4 final score.
Yankee of the Day: D.J. LeMahieu (3): 3 for 4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Game 2 (Nationals 3, Yankees 4) (11 Innings)
Due to unclear weather, it was unclear whether there would be baseball in the Bronx on Saturday. After a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay, the game started.
Max Scherzer was the story of the game. The great Mad Max struck out 14 Yankees in 7.1 innings of work. The Yankees lineup looked like they were not bringing a bat up to the plate.
Corey Kluber was pretty good in his own right. After three singles, including a bunt where nobody covered first base, Kluber found himself in a bases loaded battle in the third inning. Josh Harrison hit a ground ball to D.J. LeMahieu at third, who made a nice throw to the plate to get the lead runner. Next up was Juan Soto. Kluber did not bother giving him anything to hit or extend his arms on. Instead, Kluber threw five pitches down and in. The result was a walk and a run, but Kluber retired Ryan Zimmerman after to keep the score at 1-0. The deficit felt like more with Scherzer on the mound, but it did not feel insurmountable.
The Yankees came to bat and Scherzer hung a breaking ball to Kyle Higshioka. Higgy drilled it into the left field seats for his first homer on a breaking ball all season. It also tied the score 1-1.
In the sixth inning, Kluber had a mixture of bad luck and lack of execution with two outs. He left a ball right in Kyle Schwarber’s sweet spot, who hammered it 116.6 mph to the right field wall on a bounce. Instead of rebounding off the wall, the ball jammed into the bottom of the fence, so Aaron Judge had to run it down and fire it to second base. The throw was great, but just missed getting Schwarber, who was really pushing it to get the double. Starlin Castro rewarded Schwarber for his hustle by knocking him in on a single up the middle.
Chad Green and Lucas Luetge kept the score at 2-1 as we entered the bottom of the ninth. Brad Hand entered to close the game out for Washington, but got in a tough spot after issuing a leadoff walk to D.J. LeMahieu. Giancarlo Stanton hit a hard ground ball at 112.1 mph, which turned into an out at first base, but allowed LeMahieu to advance 90 feet to second base. Aaron Judge then popped a Texas Leaguer to shallow right field. LeMahieu was unable to go off contact because it was nearly caught, so he only moved up to third base. Gleyber Torres dug in with runners on the corners and one out. After getting ahead to a 2-1 count, Gleyber got inside the baseball and hit a liner to right field for the clutch game-tying single. Hicks struck out and Frazier grounded out to end the inning and send it to extras.
The Nationals had the automatic runner (Andrew Stevenson) on second to start the inning. With Aroldis Chapman on the mound, it was unlikely he would cross home plate. However, a Victor Robles single and Trea Turner sacrifice fly indeed scored Stevenson, but that was all the Nats would get.
The Yankees, still facing Brad Hand, had their own automatic runner on second base (Clint Frazier). After squaring up to bunt a few times, Mike Ford hit a ground ball against the shift and into left field to tie the game up. That was all the Yankees would get that inning.
To my surprise, Justin Wilson pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eleventh. In the Yankees turn at bat against Tanner Rainey, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge each walked to load the bases for Gleyber Torres. He hit a swinging bunt down the third base side. Rainey ran off the mound to field it, but could not get a good grip on it, so LeMahieu scored the winning run and Torres was the hero!
Yankee of the Day: Gleyber Torres (2): 2 for 5, 2 RBI. Game-tying and walk-off singles.
Game 3 (Nationals 2, Yankees 3)
Huge news: Gleyber Torres hit a home run!!! His first of the season gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead (a Hicks RBI single knocked the first run in earlier in the game).
Domingo Germán nearly held onto the lead, but faltered in the seventh inning. Josh Bell doubled and Kyle Schwarber popped a two-run homer to spoil Germán’s great outing.
Michael King, Wandy Peralta, and Aroldis Chapman kept the score the way it was, so the Yankees came to bat in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game this time. Once again, Brad Hand was on the mound for Washington.
Hand did the last thing on earth he wanted to do: walk Tyler Wade to lead off the inning. Aaron Judge pinch-hit for Gardner and also drew walk. Hand got LeMahieu to ground into a fielder’s choice, which brought up Giancarlo Stanton. On the fifth pitch of the at bat, Stanton hit a 112.6 mph bullet through the shortstop-third base hole. Another walk-off win for the Yanks!
Yankee of the Day: Giancarlo Stanton (5): 1 for 3, 2 BB, RBI. Walk-off single in 9th inning.
Series Talking Points
Walk-Off Weekend: The Yankees’ first walk-off win of the season was the swinging bunt by Gleyber Torres. Their second came only a day later on a rocket by Stanton. It is about time a little luck started going the Yankees’ way, but overall the team is playing better ball than it was in April.
Defensive Let-Downs: The Yankees defense had really improved after a rough start to the season. Since acquiring Rougned Odor, the Yankees became versatile in the infield. LeMahieu and Ford were each upgrades from Jay Bruce at first base. Now, Urshela and Odor are injured, so the Yankees paid the price defensively.
In the 8th inning of the first game, the Yankees made 3 errors. The first was on Aaron Judge, who misplayed a ball on the ground. The ball knuckled as it bounced across the outfield grass. The result was the runner advancing one base to second. With LeMahieu out of his natural infield side and playing third base, he rushed a throw on a subsequent bunt play. The throw pulled Tyler Wade off the bag as he covered first base. Later in the inning with the infield playing in, a ground ball went under Gleyber Torres’ glove. The inning was a disaster, as the Nationals plated 6 runs.
The defense is concerning this season. LeMahieu, Judge, and Hicks are supposed to be the players you do not worry about defensively. None of the three are having an outstanding season with the glove. LeMahieu has been the best of the three, since he is being shifted around so often. He looks really good at first base, and he has always been a natural at second base. But third base has not been as friendly to him this season as it has in the past. The Yankees really need Urshela back.
Aaron Judge’s error was his first since the 2018 season. However, this year he just looks different out there. It could have to do with some soreness, as he has missed time for each upper body and lower body soreness in 2021. His jump on fly balls looks a little slow and his throws have not lived up to the impossible standard he has set for himself over the past 4 seasons. That being said, he is still doing well, but the Yankees need him to be a star out there.
In the second game, the Nationals laid down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning. When Corey Kluber fielded it, nobody was covering first base. Tyler Wade had went to cover second base (which Torres also did) and Mike Ford charged the bunt to try to field it. Simply put, the Yankees failed to execute the bunt defense and it was due to a mental error. Plays like this are scary when you talk about a team that wants to win a championship.
Struggles Versus Scherzer: The offense really, really could not hit Scherzer well at all. This is concerning since the Yankees will undoubtedly have to face pitchers like Tyler Glasnow, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and possibly even Chris Sale throughout the season in divisional matchups. Scherzer racked up 14 strikeouts, but the Yankees clawed their way against the bullpen. Well, not every bullpen will be as easy to fight back against as Washington’s, so the Yankees need to start doing some damage against starting pitchers.
Gleyber Torres First Home Run: It took over a month, but Gleyber Torres is on the board! Hopefully, this means a string of homers is on the way. Gleyber was clearly taking big hacks and was cognizant of the fact that he had yet to hit a big fly. Now, he can take a deep breath and let the hard hits come to him.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 5 for 12 (.417 AVG), 2 BB (.500 OBP), 4 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 3 K (1.417 OPS), 1 SB
Aaron Judge: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 2 BB (.300 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.425 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Hicks: 1 for 7 (.143 AVG), 2 BB (.333 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.476 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 1 for 11 (.091 AVG), 3 BB (.286 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 4 K (.377 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 3 for 13 (.231 AVG), 0 BB (.231 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 K (.692 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 1 for 6 (.167 AVG), 2 BB (.375 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 K (1.042 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 1 for 11 (.091 AVG), 1 BB (.167 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.258 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 1 for 5 (.200 AVG), 1 BB (.333 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.733 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 1 for 4 (.250 AVG), 0 BB (.250 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (1.250 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Ford: 1 for 6 (.167 AVG), 2 BB (.375 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.542 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 0 for 9 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 0 for 4 (.000 AVG), 2 BB (.333 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 K (.333 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: No appearances.
Pitching
Jameson Taillon: 6.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 HR, 5 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Corey Kluber: 5.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 0 HR, 6 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Domingo Germán: 6.1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 6 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Mike King: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: 1.2 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 HR, 1 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 0.1 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA