All of a sudden the Yankees feel back in the pennant race, after beating Texas 4-3 on a Monday night at the Stadium. Toronto lost so the Yanks are .5 games behind the Wild Card again. Aroldis Chapman pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning for the save — his 12th straight save without blowing one and he now has a 1.99 ERA since July 6th. Chad Green pitched an inning of shutout ball; and the Yankee bullpen in general pitched 4.2 innings of shutout ball.
Plus Robbie Ray took the loss for Toronto, getting knocked out in the 5th, allowing 7 hits and 3 runs and falling to 12-6 2.72, which kept Gerrit Cole‘s Cy Young chances alive. Cole is 15-8 3.03 after having lost on Sunday — still possibly in the lead for the award that he’s never won: Cole leads in wins and strikeouts; Ray leads in ERA. They are in a virtual tie in WHIP at 1.03.
And Aaron Judge went 2 for 3 with a walk to raise his average back up to .287.
So much good news on this evening; it was as if all the bad of the day before turned upside down and inside out.
“That’s baseball, Suzyn.” — John Sterling.
1. Yanks Get 4 Early Runs
New York had Nestor Cortes Jr.starting, and the Yanks gave him an early 4-0 lead. Gary Sanchez started off the scoring against Texas starter A.J. Alexy with a solo bomb to left in the bottom of the 2nd.
Kraken Rakin' pic.twitter.com/OxZB9LtzMh
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 20, 2021
In the 3rd, the Yanks launched a 1-out rally: DJ LeMahieu singled, Anthony Rizzo singled, and Aaron Judge singled in a run, sending Rizzo to 3rd to make it 2-0 NY; Judge took 2nd on an overthrow by Texas centerfielder Leody Taveras.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a sac fly to center to score Rizzo and make it 3-0.
Joey Gallo then walked and Gleyber Torres singled in a run to make it 4-0.
3 more runs in the 3rd 💪 pic.twitter.com/XtAENUhAkC
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 21, 2021
2. Cortes Pitched Well But Ran Out of Gas
Nestor Cortes Jr. had a shutout going through the 4th inning, although his pitch count was high. Cruising with a 4-0 lead, Cortes got the first 2 outs of the 4th, but then Texas 1st baseman Nathaniel Lowe (who used to be called Nate Lowe, Yankee fans pointed out on Twitter) worked a walk on an 8-pitch at bat, and 2nd baseman Nick Solak worked a walk on a 7-pitch at bat.
Cortes started catcher Jonah Heim with a ball too before rearing back and striking him out on 3 pitches, but Nestor was at 82 pitches already.
Nestor's up to 7 strikeouts already through 4! He had a career-high 11 last start. #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/TwW9HOFYfK
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 21, 2021
Cortes was out of gas and it showed in the 5th — he gave up:
- a leadoff homerun to 3rd baseman Charlie Culberson, then
- a ground-rule double to left center by centerfielder Leody Taveras, and
- a double to Isiah Kiner-Falefa to right,
- before getting Andy Ibanez to line out to center.
Cortes was relieved with 1 out, runner on 2nd, in a 4-2 game.
3. Bullpen Makes the Runs Stand Up
In came Chad Green to throw a wild pitch, moving the runner Kiner-Falefa to 3rd, where he scored on a sac fly by Adolis Garcia making it 4-3 NY. And you can imagine the groans on Yankee Twitter.
And manager Aaron Boone sent Green out again for the 6th. Yankee fans were waiting for the homerun ball and tie game but Green got 2 groundouts and a strikeout — a 1-2-3 inning!
Clay Holmes pitched a shutout 7th (strikeout, groundout, groundout — the opposite of Green in the 6th) — but allowed a leadoff single in the 8th — before getting 2 outs, the later a nifty play by DJ LeMahieu at 3rd to get the lead runner at 2nd on a fielder’s choice.
Joely Rodriguez entered to pitch to the lefty Lowe, who reached anyway on an infield single causing the lefty Rodriguez to face the righty Solak — who everyone expected to tie the game with a hit. But Joely struck him out on 4 pitches and Yankee Twitter erupted in praise.
4. Chapman On Fire Again?
The Yanks could not muster an insurance run and so it was to the 9th inning with the Yanks continuing to hang onto the 4-3 lead. Yankee Twitter buckled up for the Aroldis Chapman Roller Coaster Ride. But it was a wonderfully boring ride — Chappy excelled — pitching a 1-2-3 inning — striking out Taveras for the old ballgame and then giving his customary final-strikeout stare.
BALL GAME! YANKEES WIN 4-3!!! #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/XYcdby9sOD
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 21, 2021
As “Talkin’ Yanks reported after the game, Aroldis Chapman since July 6th sports this line: 22.2 IP, 5 ER, 13 H, 40 SO, 16 BB, 1.99 ERA, 12 saves, 0 blown saves.
Rejuvenation.
Etcetera
- Aaron Judge went 2-3 with a walk to raise his slash line to 35-86-.287 (.371 OBP).
- Gleyber Torres went 2-3 with a walk to raise his slash line to 7-46-.256 (.328 OBP)
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