Series Recap: A Series Win at The Trop
Photo Via: Kim Klement — USA TODAY SportsThe Rays have been a thorn in the Yankees’ side for a while now. Both series between the teams this season were won by Tampa. Thankfully, this one was different.
The Yankees recorded their first series win at Tropicana Field since May of 2019. Despite a fourth consecutive series victory, not everything is sunshine and rainbows in the Yankees universe. A COVID outbreak, untimely injuries, and continuous offensive woes are at the forefront of this week’s discussion.
Game 1 (Yankees 3, Rays 1)
The Rays decided to go with rookie Luis Patiño for the first game. Patiño throws really hard, but was mostly in the mid-90’s for this game. Aaron Judge jumped on a first pitch fastball and put it over the centerfield fence for an early 1-0 lead. It was good to see Judge, who had been taking tons of pitches early in the count, be aggressive and attack the pitcher.
Jordan Montgomery turned in a great start for the Yanks. He started out the first two innings with 6-up and 6-down.
In the third inning, the Yankees put two runners on with a LeMahieu single and Stanton walk. Then, the Rays gifted the Yanks a run. Both runners advanced two bases (LeMahieu scored), on two passed balls charged to Mike Zunino during Judge’s at bat.
Zunino made up for it immediately. He led off the bottom of the third with a 472-foot moon bomb off Monty that made the score 2-1 Yanks.
The Yankees received an insurance run from Gary Sánchez in the seventh inning after four innings of skirting with a one-run lead. Gary hit the blast off of Rays’ bulk pitcher Josh Fleming, who tried to quick pitch, but Sánchez stepped out. When Sánchez stepped back in the box, this happened:
After two shutout innings by Loaisiga, the Yanks went to Chapman for the ninth. He was bothered by an apparent issue with his finger, and his fastball dipped as low as 96 mph in the inning. He was really helped out by Sánchez. When a wild pitch rebounded off of the back stop, Sánchez turned, caught ball off a hop, and fired a strike to second base to nab Austin Meadows. Chapman then settled down and ended the game.
Yankee of the Day: Jordan Montgomery (2): 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 9 K, W.
Game 2 (Yankees 1, Rays 0)
There is only one way to describe this game: Gerrit Cole domination. Then, the Yankees were fortunate enough to hand the ball right over to the best closer in baseball. However, there were some noteworthy moments and exciting plays in this one.
First, The Trop sucks. A baseball stadium with a roof that is the same color as the ball, lights that do not work, and catwalks that hang down in play… what could go wrong?
Luckily, Cole was able to pitch out of the stadium-induced jam.
Second, home plate umpire Bill Miller was all over the place for both teams. I cold not figure out his strike zone all night. Clint Frazier objected to it after a strike three call, and was tossed immediately. Sure, Clint could have said something to earn the vacation, but I seriously doubt it.
Third, the only run for the Yankees came by way of an Aaron Hicks sacrifice fly to knock Judge in. Judge reached on his own single and moved to third on a double by Urshela. Ultimately, this was the winning run. Runs were scored so sparingly that Hicks even bat flipped the fly out.
Lastly, we got ourselves a rematch of Chapman vs. Brosseau in the ninth inning. This time, Chapman got the best of him. I think all Yankees fans were holding their breath during this one.
Yankee of the Day: Gerrit Cole (4): 8 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 12 K, W. He also became the second fastest pitcher in MLB history to reach the 1,500 strikeout mark.
Game 3 (Yankees 1, Rays 9)
We can breeze through this one. It was all Rays. Jameson Taillon had a rough start. Former Pirates teammate Austin Meadows got the best of him each time, including a home run. Then, the Yankees turned to Michael King, who surrendered a three-run homer to Randy Arozarena. Justin Wilson was the final Yankees reliever to enter, and he too, surrendered runs (a pair).
The Yankees only run was scored on a ground ball double play with the bases loaded in the ninth inning by Clint Frazier: not ideal. Oddly enough, the Yankees pitching racked up 16 strikeouts, but the runs were too much for the depleted Yankees offense.
Yankee of the Day: Gary Sánchez (2): 2 for 3, 2B, BB.
Series Talking Points
COVID Debacle: A COVID outbreak struck the Yankees during this series. The only affected player was Gleyber Torres, who tested positive for the virus, despite already having the virus last December and being vaccinated in early April. That is definitely a head-scratcher, but the Yankees say he feels fine, which is good. Unfortunately, the Yankees traveling party included 7 other positive tests between the coaching and support staff. All 8 infected persons (Gleyber plus the 7 coaches/support staff) had been vaccinated. You probably saw these referred to as “breakthrough cases” for that reason. Hopefully, the Yankees can get Torres back quickly and keep everybody else virus-free.
Luke Voit Return: Luke Voit returned and was hit by a pitch in the hand in his first game. He made some hard contact, but found himself hitting the ball right at defenders. He rested for game three and was seen wearing a device to treat back stiffness/soreness, but the Yankees say he is fine. Overall, it is good to have Voit back, but I really hope we get him at 100%.
Yankees Not Sour Over HBP’s: More of a note than anything, the Yankees were plunked 4 times as a team this series. None of them were intentional, which the Yankees knew. However, the one to Voit was frustrating. The Yankees never complained to the umpires, the Rays, or the media, so it seems like nothing. However, I cannot help but notice when the Yankees plunked 4 Rays in April, the Rays did not stop talking about it, even though 2 Yankees were hit by pitches in the very same series. Just interesting that the Yankees seem to be less hostile over the back and forth than Tampa Bay has been.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 1 for 12 (.083 AVG), 0 BB (.083 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.167 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 6 for 11 (.545 AVG), 0 BB, 1 HBP (.583 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 K (1.492 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 2 for 11 (.182 AVG), 1 BB (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 5 K (.583 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 4 for 12 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.750 OPS), 0 SB
Luke Voit: 0 for 6 (.000 AVG), 1 BB, 1 HBP (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.250 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 0 for 4 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Hicks: 0 for 2 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 3 for 7 (.429 AVG), 1 BB (.500 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (1.500 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 2 BB (.300 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.550 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 0 for 6 (.000 AVG), 1 BB, 1 HBP (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.250 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Ford: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.250 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 0 for 4 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 1 for 3 (.333 AVG), 0 BB (.333 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.667 OPS), 0 SB
Pitching
Jordan Montgomery: 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 9 Ks, W, 1.50 ERA
Gerrit Cole: 8 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 12 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Jameson Taillon: 4.2 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 9 Ks, 7.71 ERA
Mike King: 2.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 6 Ks, 11.57 ERA
Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 9.00 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 2 SV, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: No appearances.
Luis Cessa: No appearances.
Lucas Luetge: No appearances.
Chad Green: No appearances.