For the 3rd game in a row, the Yankees took a 6-0 lead over the Minnesota Twins en route to a win in this Saturday afternoon romp, with Gerrit Cole escaping a jam in the 5th and pitching 6 shutout innings, and the red-hot Luke Voit again leading the offense with big hits and RBI’s.
Tampa won so NY remained 4 games out of 1st, but the Yanks 9th straight win put them 20 games over .500 at 72-52. The Red Sox lost 10-1 to fall 2.5 behind the Yanks, seemingly in free fall.
1. Cole Tremendous; Got Thru Jam in 5th
The Yankees staked Gerrit Cole to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd when Tyler Wade got a 2-out single to plate Rougned Odor. And that 1-0 lead was all Cole had to work with entering the top of the 5th when with 1 out, a single, single, walk loaded the bases.
With the game at its turning point — Cole struck out Jorge Polanco, bringing Cole nemesis Josh Donaldson to the plate.
“Because of course. Baseball.” observed Yankee fan Santiago.
Donaldson the one who accused Cole of cheating by using Spider Tack earlier this season. Donaldson who then faced Cole shortly after the accusations, on June 9th. Donaldson who did not fare well against Cole in that first post-accusation matchup — striking out against Cole his first 2 times up, then hitting a can-of-corn fly out.
So here was Donaldson again with bases loaded, 2 out. Cole struck him out on 4 pitches — the last one a called strike at the knees.
GOT EM
Gerrit Cole strikes out Josh Donaldson to get out of a bases-loaded jam 👏 pic.twitter.com/vwrMtS5R2M
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 21, 2021
2. Yanks Explode for 5 in 5th
And with that, the game turned. The Yankee offense got to Twins starter Kenta Maeda in the bottom of the 5th. Tyler Wade hit a 1-out double to left, DJ LeMahieu hit a sharp single, and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases with 1 out.
Maeda threw a wild pitch to plate Wade and make it 2-0 NY, then walked Aaron Judge to load the bases again.
Giancarlo Stanton ripped a double to left for a 4-0 Yankee lead.
Then with 2 outs, the Red-hot Luke Voit ripped a double to left for a 6-0 lead.
🖐️ in the 5th. pic.twitter.com/CyFS4VbhnB
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 21, 2021
3. Luetge & Abreu Hold the Fort
Lucas Luetge pitched 2 good innings — allowing a solo homer to Jorge Polanco in the 8th. And Albert Abreu pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 9th, striking out 1.
4. Velazquez Insurance Homer
It’s been a big week for Luke Voit and Andrew Velazquez and it kept going for both of them in this game. Velazquez hit his first Major League homer in the bottom of the 8th for an insurance run — and make the final score 7-1.
The Squid from the Bronx. 🐙 pic.twitter.com/7ExVi6BpJe
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 21, 2021
Afterwards, Velazquez said a Yankee fan near the on-deck circle kept screaming at him to hit his first homer, and after going 0-3, in his 4th at bat he said to himself “let me take his approach because mine ain’t working” — and did.
Etcetera
- Gerrit Cole won to go 12-6 2.92. He is arguably the leading contender for Cy Young (an award he’s never won) as:
- Cole is tied for the league lead in wins (with Chris Bassit Oakland at 12-4 3.22 and Hyun Jin Ryu of Toronto at 12-6 3.54),
- Cole is 2nd in ERA (Robby Ray leads with a 2.79 — his record is 9-5 2.79),
- Cole leads the AL in WHIP with a 0.97, and
- Cole also leads the AL in strikeouts with 191.
- Luke Voit, red hot, has raised his slash line to 7-28-.266 (.341 OBP) in 158 at bats
- Tyler Wade is batting .278 with a .355 OBP in 108 At Bats
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401228905
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