Series Recap: Yanks Finally Get A Sweep
A sweep! It finally happened! The Yankees did not have a sweep all season, and they got one against A.J. Hinch’s Detroit Tigers. With the Astros coming into town next, it is good that the Yankees built up some momentum. The starting pitching navigated the lowly Tigers lineup with ease this weekend. Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, and Corey Kluber combined for 19 innings and only 1 run allowed.
Game 1 (Tigers 0, Yankees 10)
The Yankees offense really showed up for this one, especially Aaron Judge. Gerrit Cole also completely overmatched the Tigers’ offense. Cole struck out 12 in 6 innings of work. His pitch count got just high enough where the Yanks did not want to throw him out there for another inning in a blowout.
It also felt good to be on the right side of a lopsided affair. You knew the Yankees were going to win the game just a few innings in.
Gio Urshela got the scoring started in the first with an RBI single to left off Detroit’s starter, Tarik Skubal. Then Clint Frazier hit a line drive solo home run in the second. Judge and Aaron Hicks blasted homers in the third to give the Yankees a 4-0 advantage. Then, the backbreaker occured in the fourth: Judge hit an upper deck, opposite field grand slam. An RBI double by Hicks in the fourth and solo homer from Rougned Odor in the fifth brought us to our final score, 10-0 Yanks.
The Yankees went to Luis Cessa first out of the pen since he had a few days off in a row. Then, Wandy Peralta made his Yankees debut, putting up a scoreless inning with a strikeout. Lucas Luetge finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning while striking out the side.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (2): 2 for 4, 2 HR (1 GS), 2 R, 5 RBI.
Game 2 (Tigers 4, Yankees 6)
This was a surprisingly important game for the Yankees. Jameson Taillon toed the slab exactly 2 years to the day since his last major league win.
Taillon did his part, going 5 innings and only allowing 1 run. He was not in complete command of his pitches (3 walks, 1 home run), but he limited the damage by racking up strikeouts (8 Ks). In the end, Taillon got himself the win he was looking for. He even worked around some early trouble (misplays by Clint) to make sure he did not fall in a hole.
The scoring did not start until the third inning when Gleyber Torres knocked in LeMahieu on a single. The Tigers immediately responded with a solo shot by Jeimer Candelario. Aaron Judge’s hot stretch continued with an RBI double in the fifth inning. Just one inning later, Judge delivered again, this time bringing home two runs on a single. Gleyber Torres singled in that same inning and gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead.
Justin Wilson had a tough outing. In the top of the seventh, he allowed a 2-RBI single to Jonathan Schoop. Chad Green got the Yankees out of the inning, but surrendered a solo homer to Niko Goodrum in the eighth. That was the final run of the game. Aroldis Chapman slammed the door shut with 2 strikeouts in a 7-pitch ninth inning.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (3): 3 for 5, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Game 3 (Tigers 0, Yankees 2)
It was a pitcher’s duel in the Bronx. Corey Kluber outlasted Jose Ureña in just 2 hours and 14 minutes. The game featured a total of 5 hits and 2 runs. However, Giancarlo Stanton was still able to extend his hitting streak to 9 games!
The Yankees scored both of the runs in the same inning. In the second inning after a single by Gio Urshela that slowly rolled along the third base line until it hit the bag, the Yankees got cooking. Aaron Hicks walked and then Mike Ford put a charge into one but was caught in deep center field. The next batter, Kyle Higashioka, turned on an up-and-in fastball and roped it for a double off of the foul line in left field. Brett Gardner then smoked a line drive to right field, which looked like a home run off the bat, but Robbie Grossman made a nice play to haul it in, so Gardy had to settle for a sac fly.
Corey Kluber was dominant. It was about as close to vintage Kluber as we may see this season. He was making quick work of the Tigers. After 8 shutout frames, Aroldis Chapman closed it out, looking nasty as ever. In fact, Kluber earned his 100th career win, so congrats Kluber!
Overall, the offense was quiet after the second inning. Jose Ureña settled in and retired the final 16 batters he faced. Then, Gregory Soto had a 1-2-3 inning. So, in total, the final 19 Yankees went down in order (not good).
Yankee of the Day: Corey Kluber (2): 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K, W.
Series Talking Points
Kyle Higashioka Starting: The Yankees are being coy about it, but Kyle Higashioka is this team’s starting catcher now. When asked about it, Aaron Boone has never fully stated it, but it is pretty clear that Higgy is their guy. The pitchers seem to love throwing to him.
Pitchers Stats By Catcher:
Gerrit Cole w/ Sánchez: 5.1 IP, 3.38 ERA, 8 K (vs. TOR)
Gerrit Cole w/ Higashioka: 32.1 IP, 1.11 ERA, 54 K (vs. BAL, @ TOR, vs. TBR, @ CLE, vs. DET)
Corey Kluber w/ Sánchez: 11.0 IP, 4.91 ERA, 10 K (vs. TOR, @ TBR, vs. ATL)
Corey Kluber w/ Higashioka: 18.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 19 K (@ TOR, @ BAL, vs. DET)
Domingo Germán w/ Sánchez: 7 IP, 9.00 ERA, 7 K (vs. TOR, @ TBR)
Domingo Germán w/ Higashioka: 13 IP, 1.38 ERA, 12 K (@ CLE, @ BAL)
Jordan Montgomery only has 2 innings thrown to Higashioka (0 runs), and Jameson Taillon has only pitched to Sánchez so far.
Gerrit Cole Dominance: There is not much else to say about Cole other than he has been everything we asked of him recently. Through 37.2 innings this season, he has a 1.43 ERA and 62 strikeouts.
Corey Kluber Changeup: Corey Kluber not only changed the outcomes he has been getting, but he changed the pitch mix up a little bit as well. Kluber generated a career-high 13 whiffs on his changeup (previous mark was 7), helping him get to 10 strikeouts. Sure, he was facing the Tigers, but it is good to see The Klubot get some positive results. His season ERA is down to 3.03, which was a bit surprising (in a good way) to see.
Clint Frazier Defense: Clint Frazier is on the cusp of playing himself out of the lineup. Just as it seems his bat has a chance at waking up, he misplayed a handful of plays in the field. In the first game, he let a very catchable ball fall in front of him for a hit, then panicked a little bit and airmailed the throw back into the infield. In the second game, he dropped an easy popup and made another poor throw. I know the Yankees have not been able to help Clint out by keeping him in left field every single day and asking him to go to right field as well, but at some point you just have to be able to do what is asked of you. When Clint is going, there are not many players as exciting to watch, but I hold my breath every time the ball is hit his way — that is not good.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 3 for 12 (.250 AVG), 1 BB (.308 OBP), 3 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.558 OPS), 1 SB
Aaron Judge: 5 for 12 (.417 AVG), 0 BB (.417 OBP), 3 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 2 K (1.417 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Hicks: 3 for 10 (.300 AVG), 1 BB, 1 HBP (.417 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K (1.117 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 4 for 8 (.500 AVG), 0 BB (.500 OBP), 2 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (1.125 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 3 for 7 (.429 AVG), 1 BB (.500 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 K (.929 OPS), 0 SB
Gary Sánchez: 0 for 3 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.250 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.250 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 3 for 8 (.375 AVG), 0 BB (.375 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.750 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 1 for 7 (.143 AVG), 1 BB (.333 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (.905 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 1 for 6 (.167 AVG), 1 BB (.250 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.417 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 1 for 5 (.200 AVG), 2 BB (.429 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K (.829 OPS), 0 SB
Mike Ford: 0 for 7 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.125 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.125 OPS), 0 SB
Rougned Odor: 1 for 10 (.100 AVG), 2 BB (.250 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 K (.650 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), 0 SB
Pitching
Gerrit Cole: 6 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 12 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Jameson Taillon: 5 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, W, 1.80 ERA
Corey Kluber: 8 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 10 Ks, W, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Justin Wilson: 0.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, 1 Ks, 27.00 ERA
Luis Cessa: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 1.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 2 Ks, 6.75 ERA
Jonathan Loaisiga: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 4 Ks, 2 SV, 0.00 ERA
Mike King: No appearances.
Darren O’Day: No appearances (placed on IL).