Series Recap: Torres, Yanks Sweep the White Sox
Photo Via: Associated Press — Frank Franklin IISeries of the year so far! The Yankees exit with a 6-game winning streak after a sweep of the White Sox. It also marks 7 consecutive series wins for the club. The White Sox held the best record in the American League heading into the series, but the Yankees made them look like a non-competitor. The starting pitching was incredible, the infield defense was phenomenal, and Gleyber Torres was locked in.
Game 1 (White Sox 1, Yankees 2)
Friday night featured a couple southpaws battling it out. Jordan Montgomery was locked in for the Yankees after a clunker outing his last time on the mound. The White Sox were 9-2 against left-handed starters coming into this game, but Gumby truly carved them up. However, he met his match with Carlos Rodón, who struck out 13 Yankees in 6 innings. Monty was able to go 7 innings, and also hit double-digit K’s.
Montgomery also overcame some defensive deficiencies late in the game. Miguel Andújar and Brett Gardner ran into each other and let a fly ball drop in the outfield grass. Montgomery responded by working through it and earning a big time strikeout.
The White Sox turned to Michael Kopech in relief. Kopech throws triple-digit gas at times and has a sharp breaking ball. Gleyber Torres got ahead in the count 3-1 against Kopech, and beautifully used the short porch to get the Yankees on the board first.
Jonathan Loaisiga was the first out of the pen for the Yanks in the 8th inning. A walk and a wild pitch (Gary struggled getting in front of it) put a runner in scoring position for the South Siders. With one out and a 1-2 count, Nick Madrigal flipped a blooper into shallow right field to tie the game. The pitch was way out of the zone, but Madrigal is one of those hitters that can just put the bat on any pitch. Madrigal was then erased off the base paths on a next-level play made by Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres. Judge deked as if he was going to catch the ball on the fly, which made Madrigal hesitate, then Judge fielded cleanly on the short hop and fired to Torres at second, who made a fantastic pick to get the force out.
One inning later, the Yankees somehow made an even more clutch play in the field. Chapman got into trouble when he walked a batter and made an error to give the White Sox runners on first and second with nobody out. Andrew Vaughn hit a sharp ground ball RIGHT at Gio Urshela. Urshela stepped on third, gunned it to second to Odor, who fired to first to an outstretched Luke Voit. TRIPLE PLAY!!! I was stunned. It was a once in a lifetime mix of luck and perfect infield defense at such a needed moment.
The White Sox stuck with Evan Marshall for the 9th inning. Marshall had gotten the White Sox out of a jam in the 8th. But now the Yankees had the heart of the lineup ready to go. Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela hit back-to-back singles to set the stage for Gleyber Torres. Torres laced a ground ball through the 3B-SS hole and into left field. Judge charged all the way home and slid in time to WALK IT OFF!
Yankee of the Day: Gleyber Torres (3): 2 for 4, HR, R, 2 RBI. Walk-off single in 9th inning.
Game 2 (White Sox 0, Yankees 7)
With Gerrit Cole on the bump, the Yankees saw an opportunity to win the series and really pulled through. Cole did not start with his most electric “stuff”, but he progressed to it in the middle-late innings. The infield, fresh off the triple play from the night before, was really feeling it.
That was just one of four double plays that were turned behind Gerrit Cole on Saturday. The infield was like a well-oiled machine and anything hit on the ground was going to go for multiple outs.
The offense gave Cole a nice cushion to work with. It was all started by none other than Gleyber Torres. He adjusted on a breaking pitch from Dylan Cease and placed it perfectly in the left-center gap to score two runs.
Rougned Odor followed it up with a double of his own to deep center.
Cole then hit a groove, and started using the fastball to rack up his strikeouts. As the game went on, he climbed from 99 up to 101 mph. GAS.
While Cole was heating up, Torres stayed hot. He knocked in two more runs with a single to break the game open.
Mike Ford destroyed a baseball, too.
Then, just when you thought the shutout was in danger, Gio Urshela (a/k/a the Watchful Protector) cut down Madrigal at home plate. You cannot show Gio disrespect running on a ball hit right at him and expect to live to tell the tale.
The Yankees won 7-0. You gotta love the wins that do not have you biting your nails and sweating.
Yankee of the Day: Gleyber Torres (4): 3 for 4, 2 R, 4 RBI.
Game 3 (White Sox 4, Yankees 5)
Sunday afternoon baseball in the Bronx! Jameson Taillon against Dallas Keuchel and the opportunity to sweep the White Sox! Right off the bat, the Sox put a couple runners on base and it appeared the Yankees would face an early deficit. But Miguel Andújar made a diving play in left field to rob a hit, or did he?
Originally, the call on the field was that Andújar trapped the ball, meaning there were force outs at third base and second base. The Yankees properly threw to each base for an inning-ending double play. However, on replay, it was clear Andújar made the catch, which kept the inning going, but was still a great play nonetheless. Taillon got out of it without allowing a run.
For the third game in a row, the Yankees got the lead from GLEYBER!
The man would just not stop. Unbelievable!
Speaking of not stopping, Gio Urshela just would not stop turning double (and triple) plays this series. What a treat to have him manning the hot corner.
Taillon did his job and got the Yanks through 5 innings without allowing a run. He constantly used the fastball as his strikeout pitch, even throwing it to Tim Anderson multiple times to cap off the final batter of his afternoon.
With a 3-0 lead in the 6th inning, Boone decided to go with Wandy Peralta to face Jake Lamb, Yoan Moncada, and José Abreu. The plan did not work well. Peralta got the lefty Lamb out, but walked Moncada before allowing a towering 2-run shot to Abreu.
The lead stayed right there at 3-2, partially because of D.J. LeMahieu’s ridiculous catch ranging far towards the right field foul line.
The Yankees tacked on one more run on a misplay by Tim Anderson. It turned out to be a very important run.
Chad Green surrendered a solo shot to Yasmani Grandal, which just barely made it over the wall. Clint Frazier made a leaping effort, but a fan in right field (who did not reach into play) got to the ball first. Frazier probably does not come down with it if not for the fan, but it is a mystery of the past.
Jonathan Loaisiga decided to throw 100 mph in this one, so that was pretty fun. What a year Loaisiga is having.
For good measure, Gio Urshela had to turn one more double play.
Aroldis Chapman entered for the save opportunity. Now, I do not think anyone realistically expected Chapman to maintain a 0.00 ERA for 7 months. It is just not something you can expect, but it was still so surprising to see 2021 Chapman surrender a run. He has been so dominant all season. However, he has been a little off the past couple weeks with a finger issue. He has cut down on his splitter usage, which was one of the main reasons he became so un-hittable again. Andrew Vaughn got his redemption from hitting into the triple play by smacking a game-tying solo homer in the 9th.
The Yankees loaded the bases in 9th inning with a little help from Tyler Wade’s outstanding speed. With one out, Wade beat out an infield single.
This gave Aaron Judge the chance to grab his first ever walk-off in his career. Tony LaRussa switched things up and brought in closer Liam Hendriks to face him. In the 2018 AL Wild Card Game, Judge hit a mammoth home run off Hendriks. Even as recently as this past offseason, Hendriks mentioned how much it still bothers him.
Photo Via: Instagram — @mlbcut4So, Judge was digging in looking for his first career walk-off and Hendriks was nervous about coming into a game with the bases loaded against the hitter who gave him his worst moment in the big leagues. It was a perfect recipe for what happened. The first pitch was thrown right at Judge’s face, but he was so geared up that he swung at it for strike one.
The next four pitchers were all out of the zone, and Judge did not offer at any of them. A WALK-OFF WALK FOR THE SWEEP!
It might not have been the exact outcome Judge was hoping for, but it was a hell of a lot better than striking out or grounding into a double play. Yankees win 5-4.
Yankee of the Day: Gleyber Torres (5): 3 for 4, 2 RBI.
Series Talking Points
Gleyber Torres Approach: Gleyber Torres was a slugger to watch from the series preview. After his stint on the COVID-related injured list, he started spraying the field with hits, and I liked the approach that I saw. The trend continued in New York. Torres compiled 8 hits and 8 RBI on the weekend. His home run on Friday was exactly what the Yankees needed, as he used the opposite field instead of trying to swing out of his shoes. The White Sox tried to give him a steady diet of breaking and off-speed pitches after the homer, and he made them pay for it. This is a huge development for the Yanks and could change the outlook of the season if Torres keeps it going.
Rotation Dominance: The rotation flat out dominated the White Sox lineup this weekend. Montgomery, Cole, and Taillon combined for 19 shutout innings on the heels of 16 scoreless frames from Kluber and Germán in the Texas series. Yes, that means 35 (!!!) consecutive shutout innings for the rotation. Obviously, this pace is impossible to keep up for an entire month, let alone a season, but what a great way to win ballgames.
Double Plays (Not Like Last Series): The Yankees hit into no less than a billion double plays last series in Texas. It was a series talking point in the last series recap. This weekend, the Yanks flipped that strategy around and started turning double plays like crazy. Even a triple play! Gio Urshela started nearly all of them (Urshela started 5 of the 7 double/triple plays). The great infield defense got the Yankees out of some dangerous situations and will really help prevent runs if it continues.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 1 BB (.222 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.347 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 5 for 11 (.455 AVG), 3 BB (.571 OBP), 3 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 5 K (1.026 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 2 for 11 (.182 AVG), 2 BB (.308 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 5 K (.490 OPS), 0 SB
Luke Voit: 1 for 11 (.091 AVG), 2 BB (.231 OBP), 2 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.322 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 8 for 12 (.667 AVG), 0 BB (.667 OBP), 3 R, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 4 K (1.667 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 0 for 6 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.143 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.143 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 3 for 5 (.600 AVG), 0 BB (.600 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (1.200 OPS), 2 SB
Brett Gardner: 3 for 11 (.273 AVG), 0 BB (.273 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.545 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 0 for 4 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Ford: 1 for 3 (.333 AVG), 1 BB (.500 OBP), 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (1.833 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 3 for 11 (.273 AVG), 0 BB (.273 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.636 OPS), 0 SB
Rougned Odor: 1 for 7 (.143 AVG), 0 BB (.143 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.429 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 1 for 1 (1.000 AVG), 0 BB (1.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 K (2.000 OPS), 1 SB
Pitching
Jordan Montgomery: 7 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 11 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Gerrit Cole: 7 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 0 HR, 7 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Jameson Taillon: 5 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 4 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Justin Wilson: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 0.1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 0 Ks, 54.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1 K, 5.40 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 4.50 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 1 K, 2 W, 4.50 ERA
Michael King: No appearances.
Lucas Luetge: No appearances.
Domingo Germán: No appearances.
Corey Kluber: No appearances.