Series Recap: No Sweep, but a Series Win in Baltimore
Photo Via: Terrance Williams — Associated PressFive straight series wins! Somehow, this ball club is getting the job done. Between injuries, a COVID outbreak, and a million ground ball double plays, this team finds a way to snag the majority of games. A sweep would have been fantastic, but that’s just not the Yankee Way this year. The game recaps will repeat this, but this series was The Aaron Judge Show. He basically re-entered the AL MVP discussion in a weekend’s worth of bashing.
Game 1 (Yankees 5, Orioles 4)
Of course, Aaron Judge smoked a home run in the 1st inning to put aside some worries after Giancarlo Stanton was a late scratch due to quad tightness and Gio Urshela remained out of the lineup to rest his knee. But Kluber served one right back as Austin Hays took him deep, so it was 1-1 after 1.
It stayed that way until the 4th inning, but Aaron Judge changed that with ANOTHER blast. 2-1 Yanks.
Kluber got roughed up in the 5th inning. There was some hard contact, some soft contact, a walk, and a stolen base, but no home runs allowed. The inning ended on a perfect relay from Judge in the outfield corner to LeMahieu, who fired home to get Hays out at home plate. The Orioles had a 4-2 lead. Kluber came back out for the 6th and did not allow a run that inning.
In the top of the 7th, Miguel Andújar singled and Kyle Higashioka walked to bring up Tyler Wade. That is when Aaron Boone made the decision to have Gio Urshela pinch-hit. The Orioles brought in Travis Lakins to pitch. Lakins and Urshela got into a 9-pitch battle, which ended on an unbelievably clutch home run to center field.
The Yankees bullpen of Chad Green, Wandy Peralta, and Jonathan Loaisiga nailed down the final three innings. The Yanks snuck out of this one with the 5-4 win.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (4): 2 for 3, 2 HR, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI. Outfield assist.
Game 2 (Yankees 8, Orioles 2)
In the top of the 1st frame, the Yanks immediately loaded the bases (LeMahieu walk, Voit single, Judge walk). Unfortunately, the previous night’s hero, Urshela, struck out looking. But Sánchez stepped to the plate ready to hit. A passed ball moved each runner up 90 feet and scored the game’s first run. Then Sánchez singled up the middle to make it 3-0 Yanks.
In the 2nd inning, to nobody’s surprise, Aaron Judge hit another tank and the Bombers grabbed a 5-0 lead.
With the game still at 5-0, the Orioles turned a double play that just has to be shown.
Other than that, the game was fairly uneventful beyond the middle innings. Luke Voit got his first RBI hit of the season and the Yankees took home the win 8-2.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (5): 2 for 4, HR, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Game 3 (Yankees 6, Orioles 10)
Sunday’s afternoon matchup started out very promising for the Yanks. The 1st inning featured back-to-back home runs from Gary Sánchez and Clint Frazier.
Unfortunately, the 1st inning also included a pair of runs scored by the Orioles, so the Yankees only held a 4-2 lead after 1 frame.
Aaron Judge popped another home run in the 3rd inning because of course he did. It was his 12th home run of the season (tied for major league lead) and his 7th against Baltimore this year. 5-2 Yanks.
Montgomery gave the game right back to the Orioles in the bottom of the inning. Three hits, one walk, one sacrifice fly, and two wild pitches resulted in 3 runs for the O’s and a tie game at 5-5 after 3.
Michael King appeared in relief for the 4th inning, but allowed an RBI double to Trey Mancini, so the Orioles took a 6-5 lead. The Orioles never looked back. In fact they piled on 4 more runs, before a Yankees rally attempt was snuffed in the 9th inning.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (6): 2 for 3, HR, BB, 2 R, RBI.
Series Talking Points
Injuries Galore: It just does not stop with this team. Gio Urshela limped into this series with a bad knee, but obviously came up huge with the pinch-hit, go-ahead blast. Giancarlo Stanton did not make an appearance in the series and has since been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left quad strain. Aaron Hicks was placed on the 10-day injured list in the middle of this series due to a torn sheath tendon in his left wrist. Rougned Odor was possibly going to return for a portion of the Baltimore series but ultimately was not able to do so.
COVID Update: On top of the injuries, Gleyber Torres is still on the COVID-related injured list. Boone originally suggested that Torres could be back during the Baltimore series if he tested negative for the virus. However, Torres tested positive multiple and times and must quarantine in Tampa for 10 days, then test negative twice before returning. Another staffer tested positive for COVID during the Baltimore series, bringing the Yankees total to 9 positives, all of whom were vaccinated individuals.
Judge Dominance/Bats Wake Up A Little: The good news of this series is Aaron Judge was on fire. He earned all 3 Yankee of the Day awards and even took home the AL Player of the Week this week. LeMahieu started to hit for average this series and Urshela had the huge home run. Sánchez and Frazier went back-to-back, and Gary had another deep drive that was robbed by Orioles’ outfielder Ryan McKenna. So the offense started to get going a little bit after a dismal series against Tampa Bay.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 4 for 11 (.364 AVG), 3 BB (.500 OBP), 3 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.864 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 6 for 10 (.600 AVG), 3 BB (.692 OBP), 6 R, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 1 K (2.492 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 3 for 10 (.300 AVG), 0 BB (.300 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K (.900 OPS), 0 SB
Luke Voit: 4 for 13 (.308 AVG), 0 BB (.308 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 5 K (.615 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 2 for 12 (.167 AVG), 1 BB (.231 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 K (.647 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 3 for 11 (.273 AVG), 0 BB, 1 HBP (.333 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 K (.879 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 1 for 10 (.100 AVG), 0 BB (.100 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.200 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.250 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.250 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Ford: 0 for 2 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 3 for 12 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.250 OBP), 2 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.500 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 4 for 9 (.444 AVG), 0 BB (.444 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.889 OPS), 0 SB
Ryan LaMarre: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: No appearances (quad tightness).
Gleyber Torres: No appearances (COVID-19 related IL).
Aaron Hicks: No appearances (torn wrist, placed on 10-day IL mid-series).
Pitching
Corey Kluber: 6 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 6 Ks, W, 6.00 ERA
Domingo Germán: 6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 6 Ks, W, 1.50 ERA
Jordan Montgomery: 3 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 4 Ks, 15.00 ERA
Mike King: 2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 4.50 ERA
Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: 2 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 9.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 1 K, 9.00 ERA
Chad Green: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: No appearances.