Yanks Win Rollercoaster Ride! NY 7 Texas 3

September 23, 2021 paperbacklou 2021 0

In a game that was funner than taking a ride on Kingda Ka, the Yankees came back from a 3-0 deficit — scoring 2 runs in the 5th, squeaking home a tying run in the 6th, and surging ahead with a 2-out rally in the bottom of the 8th capped by a Gary Sanchez 2-run bomb to Monument park in centerfield.

Sanchez who had entered the game for Kyle Higashioka who was pinch run for (Tyler Wade stealing 2nd & 3rd in a Mickey Rivers impersonation), after Higgy himself got a huge 2-RBI double in that 5th.

Sanchez who then threw out a runner trying to steal 2nd in the 8th — a huge play at the time.

That Gary Sanchez.

And the Yankee bullpen pitched 4.2 innings of shutout ball including Chad Green and Aroldis Chapman both looking like their old selves as NY won 7-3 in a rollercoaster whooosh before a playoff-loud Yankee Stadium and a frenetic Yankee Twitter.

The win vaulted NY back into a Wild Card spot, as Toronto lost to Tampa.

1. Kluber Hurt By Shoddy Defense

Corey Kluber started for the Yanks and was pretty good but was hurt by soft-contact hits and poor defense. He threw lots of strikes, and got lots of easy outs, but got nickeled and dimed for a run in the 2nd (infield single, stolen base off a ‘noodle-arm’ throw by Higgy, single off the glove of Luke Voit at 1st on a piss-poor play by Voit) and 4th (2-out double on a fly to the wall that Joey Gallo should have caught, then a bloop single behind DJ LeMahieu at 3rd).

Kluber tired in the 5th (leadoff double, single thru the hole at shortstop for a 3-0 Texas lead, lineout) and was gone after 84 pitches. His line: 4.1 innings, 8 hits, 3 runs, 4 K’s, no walks.

Manager Aaron Boone said Kluber was “the victim of some soft contact.”

“Yea — I would agree with that,” said Kluber afterwards. “I thought I made a lot of quality pitches. I think 6 of the 8 hits I gave up were not hit hard. But that’s part of the game. As a pitcher when that happens, you have to realize you made a good pitch, executed a good pitch, and go out and try to do it again.”

Wandy Peralta came in to get the last 2 outs of the 5th and pitch a shutout 6th.

2. Hearn Tough — At First. But Yanks Get to Him

Meanwhile, 27-yr-old, 6’5 lefty Tyler Hearn was impressive — he had a lot of life to his fastball and moved through the Yankee lineup the first 1.5 times through it.

Some of it was due to poor execution by the Yanks — they had 1st and 2nd nobody out in the 2nd (leadoff single by Giancarlo Stanton and walk by Joey Gallo) and moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, 1 out — but Gio Urshela lined out to center and they failed to score.

They had a leadoff single (by Brett Gardner) in the 3rd, but Luke Voit hit into a double play– looking like a slow refrigerator going down the line.

They finally got to Hearn in the 5th — Gleyber Torres walked, Gio Urshela singled, and Kyle Higashioka doubled them both home.

Brett Gardner moved Higgy to 3rd on a groundout — and DJ LeMahieu hit a fly ball to deep right to apparently tie the game on a sac fly. Except Texas has Adolis Garcia playing right and he’s considered to have one of the best arms in baseball. He threw a strike to home plate in what some were calling the play of the year — nailing Higgy to preserve the Rangers’ 3-2 lead.

3. Baseball Math: 3 Walks + Wild Pitch = Homerun

Hearn ran out of gas in the 6th. With several people on Yankee Twitter saying at the same time they smelled a homerun coming — some thought it would be Stanton, others thought Gallo — Hearn walked both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton with 1 out. Texas brought in young fireballer Dennis Santana  — who walked Joey Gallo to load the bases, but struck out Gleyber Torres with 4 straight 82-MPH sliders.

Yankee Twitter exploded on Gleyber for the poor at bat. Some predicted him traded at end of season.

It looked like the Yanks would waste another opportunity — when Santana threw a wild pitch to Gio Urshela to tie the game 3-3.

The baseball math: 3 walks + wild pitch = Home Run.

4. Wade’s Wild Run

Clay Holmes pitched a shutout 7th and so the Yanks took a turn at taking the lead in the bottom of the inning off hard-throwing Texas fireballer Josh Sborz. Higgy led off with a single, and was pinch run for by Tyler Wade. It ended up being the substitution of the game and the week.

Tyler Wade proceeded to make like Mickey Rivers — stealing 2nd while Gardner was striking out on Sborz’s 98-MPH heat, and then stealing 3rd.

But DJ LeMahieu struck out and Anthony Rizzo flied out — and Wade was left stranded.

5. Green = A Fun Ride

And so Yankee fans buckled up for the Chad Green Roller Coaster ride for the top of the 8th. Green got the first out on a fly ball, but Adolis Garcia reached on an error by Gio at shortstop.

Garcia attempted to steal 2nd but Gary Sanchez was behind the plate now — remember that substitution — and he rifled a strike to 2nd to nail the runner. Yankee fan Carmen DeSantis suggested the substitution might yield even more coming soon — with the tweet “Stay Tuned”?

Green got Charlie Calhoun to line out and it was on to the bottom of the 8th, tied 3-3.

6. The 2-Out, 8th Inning Rally

Texas’s Spencer Patton got Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to lead off the inning, and with 2 outs it looked like we’d go to the 9th tied.

But Joey Gallo hustled a double to left and the much-maligned Gleyber Torres stepped up and got the clutch hit of the game — ripping a first-pitch, opposite-field double down the line in right for a 4-3 Yankee lead and jubilation.

Gio Urshela then hit a grounder to 2nd that was muffed for a single and Gleyber came charging home all the way from 2nd base — SAFE at the plate!

Yankees 5 Texas 3. Rollercoaster!

And then Gary Sanchez stepped up. BOMB to Monument Park in straight-away center for a 7-3 Yankee lead. Remember the substitution.

7. Chapman Dominant

That gave Aroldis Chapman a nice cushion and he was absolutely dominant in the 9th, pitching a 1-2-3 and striking out the last two batters for the old ballgame.

Rollercoasters are not as fun as that.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401229334

 

 

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*