Series Recap: Series 2 vs. Orioles — Yankees Take Two Against O’s
Yankee Stadium: under the lights. The Yankees and Orioles played three consecutive games with 6:35 pm first pitch times. However, the biggest story of this mid-week series took place in the shadows of on-field play. Aaron Judge, a day after serving in the DH role, was pulled in the 8th inning (along with Gleyber Torres, who I will talk about later) of the first matchup. Judge did hit an opposite-field homer and a long blast to left field in the first two games, but that did not prevent an outpouring of concern from Yankees fans once his name was not in the Wednesday lineup. Here is how the series unfolded, along with the full timeline on Aaron Judge.
Game 1 (Orioles 0, Yankees 7)
Jordan Montgomery took the ball for the Yankees and he was ready. He sent the Orioles down in order in the first two innings, then struck out three batters in a row in the third after allowing a single. He sent them down in order again in the fourth, but the score was still tied. That changed in the bottom of the fourth when Judge’s home run gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Monty pitched out of slight trouble in the fifth, then the offense woke up.
Orioles starter Jorge López issued walks to Jay Bruce, D.J. LeMahieu, and Aaron Judge to load the bases with two outs. Shawn Armstrong entered in relief and immediately walked Aaron Hicks, making the score 2-0. Armstrong could ill-afford to make a mistake over the plate to the next batter, but that is what happened. One swing by Giancarlo Stanton sent the ball 471 feet and put the game out of reach at 6-0.
Montgomery shined all the way through six innings. The southpaw did not walk a batter over 73 pitches. He relied primarily on his changeup (34% usage) against right-handed hitters, while mixing in cutters and curveballs (19% usage on each pitch). He only threw 12 pitches total against lefties, and 11 of them were his four-seam fastball or sinker. He only allowed four hits — all singles.
The Yankees scratched one more run across on a 1-out RBI single from D.J. LeMahieu in the bottom of the sixth. Luis Cessa relieved Monty, striking out 3 in two innings of relief. Then, Aroldis Chapman made his season debut in the ninth inning. Chapman used his splitter — the pitch he introduced at the end of last season — for two of his three strikeouts to close out the game.
Yankee of the Day: Jordan Montgomery (1): 6 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 7 Ks, W.
Game 2 (Orioles 2, Yankees 7)
The Yankees felt good heading into Game 2 off of a win with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound. Cole must have felt great, too, as he delivered possibly his greatest performance since joining the storied franchise. Jay Bruce helped Cole in the first inning when there was runner on third base with one out. With the infield in, Bruce fielded a sharp ground ball and threw a strike to Higashioka to nab Cedric Mullins at home plate. The Yankees then loaded the bases immediately in the first inning, but three strikeouts in a row ended the inning without a run for the home team.
Other than Bruce’s play, Cole did not require much defensive assistance to keep the O’s off the board. Cole punched out 13 Orioles over seven innings of work. He retired 12 Orioles in a row to end his outing.
The first offensive assistance also came from Jay Bruce, who popped a fly ball just over the right field wall for a solo home run and a 1-0 Yankees lead in the second inning. Two innings later, the Yankees again loaded the bases (on three walks, just as the bases were loaded in Game 1). This time, the Yankees put two runs on the board, by way of a LeMahieu double-play ball and a Judge single. In the seventh inning, Stanton ripped a double to make it 4-0 Yanks.
Judge’s final swing of the series gave the Yankees a 7-0 lead. He crushed a homer to left field, but was moving gingerly afterward. Lucas Luetge entered the game in the ninth inning, replacing Chad Green who pitched a clean eighth frame. Luetge had two outs in the inning when he induced a ground ball to shortstop Gleyber Torres. Timing issues, which are not uncommon with Torres defensively, led to a late throw to first base which Mountcastle beat out (maybe not on video, but the call was upheld). Ultimately, it led to two Baltimore runs, as the next batter, Rio Ruiz parked a two-run homer in the right field seats. That was the extent of the runs for the Orioles, as the Yankees took the win 7-2.
Yankee of the Day: Gerrit Cole (1): 7 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 13 Ks, W.
Photo Via: Seth Wenig — APGame 3 (Orioles 4, Yankees 3) (11 Innings)
The most anticipated aspect of Game 3 was Jameson Taillon’s return to the major league mound. Taillon, who had a previous Tommy John surgery and a battle with cancer, rehabbed from a second Tommy John surgery that kept him away from the diamond since May 1, 2019. It was also Taillon’s debut with the Yankees — he was traded from Pittsburgh this offseason.
Taillon was perfect through three innings. His breaking pitches were extremely effective (40 sliders and curveballs thrown, with only one single allowed). However, in the fourth inning, Taillon got burned on a changeup he left over the middle of the zone to Cedric Mullins, and then again on a fastball to Anthony Santander, also over the middle. Both pitches were deposited into the right field seats for solo home runs, giving Baltimore a 2-1 lead. Otherwise, Taillon was brilliant, striking out seven hitters in 4.2 innings.
The first run for the Yankees occurred in the third inning on an Aaron Hicks RBI single. Despite scoreless appearances from Nick Nelson (1.1 IP), Darren O’Day (1 IP), and Jonathan Loaisiga (1 IP), the Yankees did not tie the score before the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the eighth, Gary Sánchez ripped a line drive into left field for a 2-out single. Mike Tauchman came in to pinch run for the catcher — and it was the right call by Aaron Boone. Gio Urshela belted a ball into the left-center gap and Tauchman scored all the way from first (with help on the slide from Brett Gardner). Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the top of the ninth and the Yankees went down in order in the bottom half of the inning to send it to extras.
The “runner on second” rule was in effect for the tenth inning, but Chad Green was able to obtain the first two outs while only allowing the free baserunner to advance to third base. Jay Bruce saved Green from a throwing error on the play when he snagged the one-hop throw. On the very next play, Bruce’s first base abilities were tested again. It was a much tougher ask — Gleyber Torres fielded a routine grounder off the bat of Baltimore’s catcher Chance Sisco, but took extra time to make the throw, which he spiked into the ground. The ball got by Bruce and the runner scored from third base to give the O’s a 3-2 lead. Once again, Gleyber’s fielding mechanics were the lowlight of the inning.
In the bottom of the tenth, Boone deployed another Yankees pinch runner, and it was the correct call again. With two outs, Kyle Higashioka hit a line drive single to right field and Tyler Wade flew from second base to barely beat the tag at the plate. A strikeout of Gio Urshela ended the inning.
In the very next half inning, the Orioles sacrificed the first out and bunted the runner to third base. Sisco then blooped a ball that fell into no-man’s land in left field, so the Orioles regained the advantage, 4-3. Luis Cessa entered the game one batter later, issued a walk, then pitched out of a bases loaded jam by striking out back-to-back Orioles.
As for the Yankees turn to bat in the eleventh inning, things got interesting. Brett Gardner successfully bunted Urshela (inherited runner) over to third base for the first out. The exact Yankee you would want at the plate got his turn to even the score: D.J. LeMahieu.
The reigning AL Batting Title winner hit a sinking liner into shallow right field. Santander caught the ball and delivered an accurate throw to the plate in time to get the tagging-up Urshela for a game-ending double-play.
Yankee of the Day: Aroldis Chapman (1): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 3 Ks.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 4 for 14 (.286 AVG), 2 BBs (.375 OBP), 2 R’s, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.661 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 5 for 8 (.625 AVG), 1 BB (.667 OBP), 3 R’s, 2 HR’s, 5 RBI, 1 K (2.042 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Hicks: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 1 BB (.222 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 2 Ks (.347 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 5 for 13 (.385 AVG), 0 BB (.385 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 Ks (1.077 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 3 for 12 (.250 AVG), 1 BB (.308 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 5 Ks (.558 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 2 for 7 (.286 AVG), 1 BB (.375 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 Ks (.804 OPS), 0 SB
Jay Bruce: 1 for 10 (.100 AVG), 3 BB (.308 OBP), 3 R’s, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 Ks (.708 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 4 for 12 (.333 AVG), 1 BB (.385 OBP), 2 R’s, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.801 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 1 for 12 (.083 AVG), 1 BB (.154 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 Ks (.237 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 3 for 7 (.429 AVG), 2 BB (.556 OBP), 2 R’s, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 Ks (1.127 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 2 for 4 (.500 AVG), 1 BB (.600 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (1.350 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Tauchman: 0 for 1 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 1 R, 0 SB (no plate appearances)
Pitching
Jordan Montgomery: 6 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 7 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Gerrit Cole: 7 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 13 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Jameson Taillon: 4.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 HR, 7 Ks, 3.86 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Nick Nelson: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Darren O’Day: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: 2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 5 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1 K, 18.00 ERA
Chad Green: 2.1 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 6 Ks, 0.00 ERA