Yanks Unleash Barrage of Homers in 6th to Crush Toronto 6-2

October 1, 2021 paperbacklou 2021 0

The Yankees were getting 1-hit by Robbie Ray, and losing 2-1 through 5 innings, when they unleashed a Barrage of Home Runs in the top of the 6th inning to send Ray to the showers and Yankee Twitter into a Frenzy — and carry NY to the 6-2 win. First Anthony Rizzo tied the game with a homer, then Aaron Judge hit his 2nd homer of the game to put NY up 3-2, and then after a Giancarlo Stanton walk, Gleyber Torres hit a Bomb to centerfield to put NY up 5-2.

Prior to that, a number of Yankees had hit fly balls that looked like they’d go out, but died and were fly outs. Judge had hit a homer in the top of the 1st but that was the only hit Ray had allowed — pitching a 1-2-3 3rd, 4th, and 5th inning — and it was looking like Ray had captured the Cy Young over Gerrit Cole. And then not.

The win gave the Yanks 2 of 3 in the series over Toronto, and put NY 3 up in the standings over the Jays, and 2 over Boston (which lost to Baltimore on a big Ryan Mountcastle homerun) and Seattle with 3 games left in the year.

1. Judge Gets Yanks Going

Aaron Judge got the Yanks off to a good start with a homer in the top of the 1st to put NY up 1-0.

2. Kluber Worked It

Corey Kluber pitched pretty well — for the most part taming the tough Toronto lineup. Kluber allowed a lead off single in the bottom of the 1st but got a double play to get out of it, but then allowed a game-tying run in the bottom of the 2nd on a Bo Bichette single and Cory Dickerson double.

Kluber escaped further trouble in the 2nd due to a terrific catch by Judge in right field for the final out.

Kluber then pitched a shutout 3rd and 4th and got out of the 5th scoreless too when Marcus Semien hit into an inning-ending double play. And then not — the play was reviewed and Semien called safe at 1st.

The inning continued and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.hit a double to center, putting Toronto up 2-1 and sending Kluber to the showers.

A tough pill to swallow.

Michael King came in and walked Bo Bichette to put 1st and 2nd, 2 out, but got out of the inning by inducing Teoscar Hernandez to ground out. A big final out.

3. Yankee Barrage

And that set the scene for the top of the 6th — when all hope seemed gone. Ray was pitching the 1-hitter, and Yankee Twitter was musing that he had taken the Cy Young from Cole — as Cole had not pitched well the night before against Toronto, allowing 5 runs in 6 innings — yet here was Ray showing how to shut down a team.

DJ LeMahieu grounded out to lead off the 6th. And then, Anthony Rizzo hit a home run to right to tie the game 2-2.

And right after him, Aaron Judge hit a BOMB to centerfield for a 3-2 Yankee lead.

Giancarlo Stanton walked and Gleyber Torres hit ANOTHER Bomb to centerfield for a 5-2 Yankee lead and send Ray to the showers.

Yankee Twitter went into a Tizzy.

Ray finished the night with 5.1 innings, 5 runs — raising his ERA 20 points and taking the loss to go 13-7 2.84 and a 1.04 WHIP.

Cole had pitched 6 innings, allowing 5 runs the night before — Cole pitched better. Cole is at 16-8 3.23 with a 1.06 WHIP.

4. Yankee Bullpen Terrific

Michael King pitched a shutout 6th and Luis Severino a 1-2-3 shutout 7th.

Chad Green allowed a leadoff double in the 8th but then struck out the side.

5. Old Man Gardner with Insurance HR

Old Man Brett Gardner hit a homer in the top of the 9th that JUST made it over the wall for an insurance run, putting the Yanks up 6-2.

6. Chappy Finishes It

Aroldis Chapman pitched the 9th and allowed a leadoff single.

As Yankee fan Quarantino Martinez put it, “Never in history has a leadoff single against a 4 run ninth inning lead been this stressful. But I’ve said this every single Chapman game, so I’m lying. It has been.”

But then Chapman struck out Breyvic Valera and George Springer and got Marcus Semien to ground out for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • Aaron Judge went 2-3 with 2 homers, a walk, 2 RBI’s and is now slashing 39-97-.288 (,374 OBP). Imagine how many RBI’s he’d have if he batted 3rd all year, versus 2nd in the order. He’s batted 3rd the last few weeks and picked up a ton of RBI’s.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401229433

 

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