With the trade deadline looming at 4pm, the Yankees played Arizona at 1 pm at the Stadium — and faced Zack Greinke, whom rumors had the Yankees somewhat interested in — even though he has a No-Trade-to-Yankees clause in his contract and is supposed to suffer from anxiety. Greinke who came in with the 10-4 2.87 record.
So there was an outside chance that the Yanks would trade for Greinke at some point just before the game — and he could put on a Yankee uniform and face Arizona — or during the game, in which case he’d just leave the game. But it didn’t happen. He got traded to Houston after the game causing a ton of hate directed toward GM Brian Cashman by some on on Yankee Twitter.
It was a hot, humid afternoon getting cooler with clouds rolling in and thunderstorms looming.
Greinke got tagged for a 2-run homer by Mike Tauchman in the 2nd for a 2-0 Yankee lead, but then settled in and pitched 5 strong innings — 2 hits, 7 strikeouts.
Oppo Tauch-o. pic.twitter.com/wefFuUFPiG
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 31, 2019
Masahiro Tanaka — who was crushed for 12 runs against the Red Sox in his last start — was matching him. Through 3 innings.
Then Tanaka started to lose it — getting out of a bases loaded, 2 out situation in the 4th, and allowing the first two batters on in the 5th and he was gone.
Chad Green came in, allowed a run on a grounder, and got into his own bases loaded jam allowing a single and walk. It was beguiling that he was still in at that point — but he stayed in and got a sac fly to Aaron Hicks in center — and Hicks threw a bullet to 3rd to try and catch the runner going from 2nd to 3rd, but overthrew 3rd base for another run — 3-2 Arizona.
Rain Delay & the Trade Deadline
Then came the rain. At 3:20 pm. Just in time for all of Yankee Twitter to spend their time refreshing their twitter constantly to see what trade the Yankees would make before the 4 pm deadline — a REAL deadline this year as teams cannot do waiver trades afterwards. The countdown was on — 10 min left; 5 min left; 1 minute left. And then — after 4pm — all of Yankee Twitter was in limbo for 10 to 15 minutes wondering if a trade had been made but not announced. Finally word came across the wire by reputable sports news people — the Yankees had not made a significant trade. The one trade — acquiring LHP Alfredo Garcia from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for RHP Joe Harvey.
Game Resumed
While everyone was digesting this news, you looked around and the game was back on — Austin Romine tagged Yoshihisa Hirano (who had looked good the night before) for a 2-run homer in the 7th for a Yankee 4-3 lead. See his interview at bottom of this article.
Ro-Ro to the rescue 🚣♂️ pic.twitter.com/iF3sqbVQqA
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 31, 2019
Yanks Put Hitting Shoes On — Finally
Finally in the 8th the Yankees put their hitting shoes on against T.J. McFarland — Aaron Judge led off with a single, Edwin Encarnacion singled, Didi Gregorius grounded in a run, Gleyber Torres doubled in a run, and Cameron Maybin singled in a run.
Chapman High-Wire Act Again
The Yanks took a 7-3 lead into the 9th — but right fielder Tim Locastro homered off Nestor Cortes Jr. and then Aroldis Chapman came in for his usual high-wire act — walking the first batter he faced, then getting 2 outs, and 2 strikes on 3rd baseman Eduardo Escobar. But with the game a strike away from being over — Chapman allowed a double by left fielder David Peralta and walked Walker before getting the final ground out.
Etcetera
Besides Chapman and Cortes Jr, the Yankee bullpen was scintillating this game: Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, and Zack Britton all pitched shutout innings. And Chad Green ended up getting credited with 1 shutout inning.
After the game, Zack Britton gave a great interview on the state of the Yankees. He was optimistic.
"We're better than every team" – Zack Britton#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/qM2kVuqTkU
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 31, 2019
So was Austin Romine.
"We have all the confidence in the world" – Austin Romine #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/7Q7E0IaDd3
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 31, 2019
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