Benintendi Homer Vaults Yanks. NY 4 Toronto 2

August 22, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0

Andrew Benintendi hit a 2-run homer into the 2nd deck of right field at Yankee Stadium to break a 2-2 tie in the 7th and vault the Yankees to a 4-2 win over Toronto.

It was Benintendi’s first homer as a Yankee, and only his 4th homer of the season — but it was HUGE as it allowed NY to take the final game of the 3 game series and avoid being swept.

He hit it off reliever Adam Cimber, who “is a pretty tough AB from a different arm angle,” said Benintendi afterwards. “Just tried to stay on top of it and drive it in the middle of the field and thankfully it went out.”

Earlier, Nestor Cortes Jr had out-dueled Alek Manoah — leaving after 6 innings with a 2-1 lead. But Toronto had just tied the score in the top of the 7th when Wandy Peralta walked in a run with the bases loaded.

Lou Trivino was spectacular in relief — getting the final out of the 7th and pitching a shutout 8th and 9th.

On a beautiful 75-degree, Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, a partly cloudy, partly sunny day.

NY pushes its AL East lead back to 8 games over Toronto and Tampa, 10.5 over Baltimore, and 14 over the Red Sox.

1. Cortes Out Duels Manoah

Alek Manoah came into the day 4th in the American League in ERA with a record of 12-6 2.71. Nestor Cortes Jr came in 5th in the AL in ERA with a record of  9-4 2.74.

It was a battle of aces — and Cortes won the battle, leaving after 6 innings with a 2-1 lead.

Cortes didn’t have his best swing-and-miss stuff but still found a way to be terrific — allowing only 3 hits and the 1 run. The lone run was a homer in the top of the 3rd to Whit Merrifield that bounced off the tippy top of the centerfield wall twice before going over (see highlight lower down in article) — that tied the game 1-1 at the time. Cortes was never in trouble besides that and struck out the side in his final inning.

Cortes’s line: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 5 K’s, 1 walk. Cortes lowers his ERA to 2.68, a hair behind Manoah who is now at 2.66.

2. LeMahieu Powers First 2 Yankee Runs

The Yankees staked Nestor to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st off Manoah — with 2 outs, Anthony Rizzo singled, and DJ LeMahieu followed with a perfect hit-and-run single through a vacated shortstop position into left — Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tried to pick up the ball and sidearm it to 3rd in one motion — attempting to nail Rizzo — but threw the ball away, past 3rd and behind home plate as Rizzo scored.

Whit Merrifield hit a homer off Cortes in the top of the 3rd to tie the game 1-1 — the ball hitting the tippy top of the centerfield wall, bouncing up, coming down and hitting the top of the wall again — before going over.

But the Yanks came right back against Manoah in the bottom of the 3rd — Benintendi walked with 1 out, and Rizzo walked with 2 outs — setting up DJ LeMahieu who got a Huge 2-out single to left to put NY up 2-1.

3. Loaisiga & Wandy Can’t Hold It

Jonathan Loaisiga came in to pitch the 7th and allowed a bloop single off a 99-MPH sinker to Bo Bichette leading off. Loaisiga then just missed getting a double play by Matt Chapman — Chapman beating out the throw to 1st. But Loaisiga walked Whit Merrifield and was gone — 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

Wandy Peralta came in and allowed a single to load the bases with the 1 out. He went 3-2 on Jackie Bradley Jr.before walking him to force in a run and tie the game 2-2.

Peralta got Gurriel to ground the ball back to him for an out at home and was relieved by Lou Trivino — with bases loaded, 2 outs, tie game — Vladimir Guerrero Jr.coming up.

Trivino got Vlad to ground out to end the threat. A HUGE out.

4. Benintendi HR Vaults Yanks

Toronto brought in Adam Cimber to relieve Manoah in the bottom of the 7th and the Yankees pounced. Jose Trevino led off with a single, and was sacrificed to 2nd by Marwin Gonzalez.

Andrew Benintendi then hit the money shot — a 2-run homer into the 2nd deck in right for a 4-2 lead.

5. Cabrera Makes ANOTHER Great Defensive Play

Oswaldo Cabrera made ANOTHER great defensive play — this time in the top of the 8th as he ranged to his right at shortstop and made a Derek Jeter-esq jump throw to nail Alejandro Kirk.

It was Cabrera’s 3rd great defensive play in 3 days — his 3rd, 4th, and 5th games in the Majors — one play in right, one at 3rd, and now one at shortstop.

6. Trivino Saves the Day

Lou Trivino pitched the final two innings of shut out ball for the win. He allowed a 1-out walk in the 9th but otherwise was perfect — retiring 7 of the 8 batters he faced for the old ballgame.

Trivino’s performance started with the huge out of Guerrero to end the 7th with bases loaded.

“He’s nasty; he’s got great stuff,” said Benintendi about Trivino afterwards. “When he’s on he’s just tough to hit.”

There is an excellent Sports Illustrated article by Gary Phillips here on why the Yankees traded for Lou Trivino. To summarize:

  • Trivino “was victimized by a .451 batting average on balls in play with the Athletics. With a career-high 53.2 percent ground ball rate and one of the worst defenses in baseball behind him, Trivino was bound to fail. The Yankees have a great infield defense.
  • Trivino 28.7 K% and 8.9 BB% with the A’s were personal bests, and those numbers outperform what the Yankees’ bullpen has done as a unit this season
  • Trivino’s 3.84 FIP, 2.92 xFIP and 2.89 SIERA in Oakland also indicated the A’s weren’t maximizing his potential.
  •  Trivino’s Baseball Savant page has him in the red for Average Exit Velocity, K%, Whiff%, Chase Rate, and Fastball Velocity.
  • With a better defense behind him and some tweaks, Cashman believes Trivino can be a “wipeout guy against right-handers,” at the very least.
  • Trivino is under team control through 2024 and making an affordable $3 million this year. The Yankees can hang on to him through arbitration for two more seasons after 2022, giving them a valuable bullpen piece if Trivino turns out to be the pitcher the organization believes he is, and once was.
  • Boone and Cashman also noted Trivino’s closing experience; he has 32 saves since the start of last season.
  • Boone added that Trivino has postseason experience – he owns a 1.59 ERA over 5.2 playoff frames.”

 

Etcetera

  • There was a dustup in the 6th when Alek Manoah hit Aaron Judge with a pitch and Judge took exception. The dugouts cleared for a bit, but Judge and Manoah settled it amicably — Manoah telling Judge he didn’t mean it. Manoah had dusted Judge off earlier in the game. Gerrit Cole led the charge out of the Yankee dugout — saying later, “it was one too many dustoffs for my liking.”
  • It was Paul O’Neil day at the Stadium — his number 21 was retired before the game.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401356036

 

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