Series Recap: Fresh Faces Fluster First-Place Foes
Photo Via: Yankees — TwitterSometimes in life, things do not go according to plan. If we were able to control everything that happened to us, nothing would truly matter. Thursday was one of those times for the Yankees. Just a few days after reliever Jonathan Loáisiga was placed on the COVID-19 related injured list, the Yankees added two more players to it on Thursday morning (Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta). Later that day, Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, and Kyle Higashioka were all placed in health and safety protocols after presenting positive COVID tests. Thursday night’s game was postponed to August 17th and Judge, Urshela, and Higashioka were all moved to the COVID IL.
The weekend games were unaffected, at least in terms of scheduling, but the rosters featured unfamiliar faces and the weather was brutal. The Yankees were able to fight back in the series to take two of three, including a rain-shortened matchup on Saturday.
Game 1 (Red Sox 4, Yankees 0)
In perhaps the least eventful game of the season, the Yankees failed to provide a single highlight. Jordan Montgomery breezed through an easy 1st inning, but allowed three runs in the 2nd. Christian Arroyo put one in the bullpen out in right-center for a home run that move the score from 1-0 to 3-0.
The Yanks sprinkled three hits throughout the contest, but never came close to scoring on Eduardo Rodriguez. The Yankees waved their white flag by sending Justin Wilson out there for an inning. He obviously surrendered a home run to J.D. Martinez and the score remained 4-0 until the end.
Yankee of the Day: Greg Allen (1): 1 for 1.
Game 2 (Red Sox 1, Yankees 3) (6 Innings)
As boring as Friday night’s game was in 9 innings, Saturday’s game packed a ton of action into just 6 frames.
The rain would not let up in the Bronx, so a 7 pm first pitch time turned into 8:05 pm. But that does not mean the downpour was over. Instead, these rivals played more than half a game in some of the worst conditions I have seen. Since Thursday’s game was postponed due to the COVID outbreak, MLB definitely did not want to postpone a second game in the series.
The first inning was spoiled when Tim Locastro made a very nice play with an unfortunate outcome. He ran a long way into the left field corner and made a leaping catch on foul ball, then had the wherewithal to get himself off the ground and throw the ball back into the infield, despite clear signs that he had injured his leg. Doing so saved a run from scoring, as Enrique Hernández moved to third base, but was stranded there. Locastro exited the game after the inning and it was later disclosed by the team that he had suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.
The Red Sox struck first in this one. Jarren Duran notched his first major league hit and was driven in by a Christian Arroyo single.
However, Cole kept dealing to keep the Yanks within one. The ace was throwing to Gary Sánchez, since Higashioka went on the COVID-19 related injured list. That tandem seemed to work just fine.
Tyler Wade entered the game in right field after Locastro’s injury. He made his presence known by supplying us with this awesome highlight reel catch.
With fear of the relentless rain making this an official ballgame, the Yankees needed to score in the bottom of the 5th. It was a tough task, since the Yankees did not even have a hit off of Nathan Eovaldi to this point.
Greg Allen changed that. He roped an 0-2 count, 2-out double into the right field gap for the team’s first hit. D.J. LeMahieu followed it with a single to left field and Allen used his wheels to score the tying run.
In the next inning, an uproar ensued in left field. Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo had tossed his warmup ball into the stands and turned back to face home plate. A fan who got the ball tossed the ball back, which hit Verdugo in the back. Verdugo lost his mind and there was a brief delay in the game as Red Sox players left the field while Verdugo pleaded with umpires for the fan’s removal.
Play resumed and the Yankees found new life. Gary Sánchez and Gleyber Torres blasted back-to-back home runs, giving the Yanks a 3-1 lead.
After the home runs, the rain continued to pour and the umpires decided to call the game. The Yankees had won their first game over the Red Sox and did so in 6 innings.
Yankee of the Day: Gerrit Cole (7): 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 11 K, W.
Game 3 (Red Sox 1, Yankees 9)
The story of this one encompassed an individual and a group. First, Jameson Taillon turned in his third consecutive great outing. He did not allow a run in over five innings of work. Second, the group of players who were called upon to step in for the regular starters who were placed on the injured list did everything that was asked of them and more.
But first, the Yankees got on the board by way of another homer by Gleyber Torres.
The Yankees tacked on their next two runs in less highlight-worthy ways. Nevertheless, the Bombers had a 3-0 lead after five innings.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Brett Gardner led off with an opposite field single against lefty Darwinzon Hernandez. The lefty-lefty matchup did not work out for the Red Sox on that one, but it went even worse for the Sox against lefty Rougned Odor. The infielder smashed a 2-run shot to give the Yanks a 5-0 lead.
Five of the next seven Yankees batter walked, so that resulted in two more runs and a 7-0 game.
After Boston grabbed a run to make the score 7-1, the Yankees struck back. It was Ryan LaMarre’s first home run as a Yankee and he did it by sending one just over the right field wall for a 2-run dinger.
Aroldis Chapman entered the game despite the 9-1 lead, and immediately threw his first pitch to the backstop. He was hit hard by Kevin Plawecki, who flied out to the warning track, then Chapman settled in and induced a strikeout of Bobby Dalbec and groundout by Kiké Hernández to end the game.
Yankee of the Day: Jameson Taillon (1): 5.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K, W.
Series Talking Points
Six Yankees To COVID IL/Game Postponed: Before the series, the Yankees had to place five players on the COVID-19 related injured list. That included Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, Kyle Higashioka, Nestor Cortes Jr., and Wandy Peralta. It resulted in Thursday night’s game being postponed and re-scheduled as part of a split doubleheader on August 17th.
Injury Updates (Voit, Locastro, Amburgey, O’Day, Loáisiga, Severino): Luke Voit was also placed on the 10-day injured list prior to this series due to knee inflammation. Tim Locastro tore his ACL in Saturday night’s game and will miss the remainder of the season. Additionally, Trey Amburgey was placed on the 10-day injured list following this series after he strained his hamstring in Sunday night’s game.
Darren O’Day will miss the remainder of the season, as he had surgery to repair his torn hamstring. Jonathan Loáisiga is no longer under COVID protocols, but will complete a quick throwing program prior to returning to the team. Luis Severino is continuing his rehab, but threw a live batting practice on Sunday.
Cole Tenacity: It is worth noting that Gerrit Cole, fresh off of his 129-pitch shutout performance in Houston, shoved once again in a big game. Sure, he only threw six innings this time and he allowed one run. But Cole fought threw torrential rain, terrible footing conditions, adjustment to the grip of the baseball amidst all of that, a different catcher (Gary, since Higashioka is on IL), and a tough opposing lineup. The result was a win and another game where Cole spared the bullpen.
Greg Allen and Ryan LaMarre Step Up: Not enough can be said about what Greg Allen and Ryan LaMarre did for this team in this series against the first place Red Sox. The two outfielders combined for 5 hits, 5 runs, a homer, 3 RBI, and 2 steals in just 9 total at bats. The Yankees needed a spark. The Red Sox had the opportunity to give this season the death sentence and Allen and LaMarre refused to allow it. Ryan LaMarre had a rough collision with the right field wall on Sunday night and said he was not allowing Aaron Boone to take him out of the game. He said he knows that there are not many opportunities to wear the Pinstripes. That is exactly the attitude this team needs to play with, so kudos to LaMarre for absolutely bringing it.
Fan Banned After Verdugo Incident: The Yankees banned the fan who threw the ball at Alex Verdugo from Yankee Stadium for life. Additionally, Major League Baseball banned him from the other 29 stadiums for life. Below is a video of just after the ball hit Verdugo.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 3 for 12 (.250 AVG), 0 BB (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.500 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 0 for 12 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 5 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 2 for 8 (.250 AVG), 3 BB (.455 OBP), 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K (1.455 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 2 BB, 1 HBP (.364 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.864 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 1 BB (.222 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.347 OPS), 0 SB
Rougned Odor: 3 for 9 (.333 AVG), 1 BB, 1 HBP (.455 OBP), 0 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 K (1.232 OPS), 0 SB
Tim Locastro: 0 for 2 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Trey Amburgey: 0 for 4 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Greg Allen: 3 for 6 (.500 AVG), 1 BB (.500 OBP), 3 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (1.167 OPS), 1 SB
Ryan LaMarre: 2 for 3 (.667 AVG), 1 BB (.750 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K (2.417 OPS), 1 SB
Chris Gittens: 1 for 7 (.143 AVG), 3 BB (.400 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (.543 OPS), 0 SB
Hoy Jun Park: 0 for 1 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Rob Brantly: 0 for 0 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Pitching
Jordan Montgomery: 6 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 4 Ks, 4.50 ERA
Gerrit Cole: 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 11 Ks, W, 1.50 ERA
Jameson Taillon: 5.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Domingo Germán: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 0 Ks, 9.00 ERA
Zack Britton: 0.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 13.50 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 0.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: No appearances.
Nick Nelson: No appearances.
Albert Abreu: No appearances.
Brooks Kriske: No appearances.