Pain in the Ass — Sept 27, 2019: NY 14 Texas 7

James Paxton‘s ass gave everyone a scare — as the Yankee ace had to leave the game after 1 inning and Yankee Twitter spent the night not caring at all about the game — worried instead about the nature of Paxton’s injury as it was not initially announced why he was taken out.

People kept refreshing twitter all night, and clicking on Yankee news reporters to see if any news was forthcoming. It appeared he touched his butt when leaving the mound. Some wondered if he had a bad case of diarrhea. Or had been stung by a bee.

Finally midway through the game it was announced that Paxton had a “tight left glute” — aka he had a slight muscle pull in his ass. He is scheduled to pitch a week from now on Friday against Minnesota in the opening game of the playoffs so hopefully his ass feels better by then.

Yankee reporter Bryan Hoch reported that “Aaron Boone said he thinks Paxton’s issue is a minor thing. Paxton wanted to keep pitching.” After the game, Paxton had this to say:

PHEW

So that was good.

Offensive Avalanche

Meanwhile the Yankees offense went to work lighting up the scoreboard in the game nobody not even Yankee fans cared about, as we were all worried about Paxton all night.

As people on Yankee Twitter were arguing about whether Giancarlo Stanton sucked or not — and had been a degradation to the lineup since his return — he banged a Homerun to put the Yankees ahead in the top of the 1st.

Paxton allowed 2 runs before leaving — a 2-run homer to 1st baseman Danny Santana in the bottom of the 1st. Cameron Maybin tied it with a homer, and Brett Gardner put the Yanks ahead 3-2 with a homer.

And then as the same people who were arguing whether Stanton sucked or not changed the argument to whether all Stanton did was hit homeruns or strikeout, he singled in 2 runs to make it 5-2 NY in the 4th.

The avalanche began — in the 6th Gio Urshela homered (good to see that as he’d been in a slump) and Mike Ford homered and it was 8-2. DJ LeMahieu doubled in 3 runs in the 7th and it was 11-2. Austin Romine homered in the 9th to make it 12-3 and Mike Ford doubled in 2 more to make it 14-3.

Ford or Voit?

Stanton finished the night 3 for 3 with 2 walks, the homer, and 3 RBI’s. Mike Ford (at .257 now) is hitting his way onto the playoff roster — he went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI’s. Luke Voit meanwhile has been cold (0 for 5 in this game to lower his avg to .265). So Yankee Twitter was discussing if it is between the two of them — who gets put on the roster?

Cameron Maybin went 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored, plays great defense in the outfield and steals bases. Looks like he will be on the post season roster.

The Yankee Bullpen

While the Yankee offense was rocking, the Yankee bullpen came in to relieve Paxton after that 1 inning — and was splendid. Mostly. Ben Heller, Stephen Tarpley, Jonathan Loaisiga, Cory Gearrin, and Tyler Lyons all pitched a shutout inning.

Heralded Yankee prospect Mike King — who blew thru many levels of the minors last year but then this year took the first few months off to rest his arm after feeling discomfort in the Spring but escaped Tommy John surgery — made his major league debut and pitched 2 shutout innings.

No Chance?

And then Chance Adams entered the game in the 9th.

Chance Adams has dominated at all levels of the minor leagues up through AAA. He is ‘this close’ to becoming a major league pitcher and making $$ millions of dollars. But he may not make it. It is going to be a long winter for Adams after this game, as he couldn’t get through the 9th — he got 1 out but allowed 4 hits and 4 runs to make the game 14-7. Nestor Cortes Jr.had to come in and get the final 2 outs.

Etcetera

DJ LeMahieu went 3 for 5 to raise his average to .331. The White Sox game was postponed so Tim Anderson still sits at .337.

Joe Palumbo took the loss for Texas — he started the game with an ERA over 9.00 and left the game with an ERA over 9.00 — 3 innings, 3 runs, 7 strikeouts. He pitched better than Adams.

The Dodgers won so they remain a game ahead of the Yankees for better record — important if the two teams should meet in the World Series. Houston has clinched a better record than the Yankees for home field throughout the AL playoffs, should they advance to the League Championship.

Aaron Judge got the night off. Stanton batted in his #2 slot. Didi Gregorius also got the night off; Gleyber Torres played shortstop and went 2 for 5.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=401077125

 

 

 

 

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