Chi Chi Gonzalez Does Good. Baltimore 3 NY 1

Aaron Judge safe at 2nd as Adley Rutschman's throw goes into center -- allowing Hicks to score the only Yankee run.

It seemed certain the game would be rained out — with remnants of Hurricane Ian hitting NYC and rain expected all day. But it cleared momentarily before the game and they played — in the rain and cold — all afternoon.

Aaron Judge went 0-3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk.

Judge’s one walk helped result in the Yankees’ only run — it moved Aaron Hicks into scoring position, and he scored on a Wild Pitch and throwing error by the catcher Adley Rutschman — trying to catch Judge moving to 2nd.

Judge seemed cheery and relaxed afterwards: “No pressure. No pressure. It would be nice to hit it at home and do something special like that for the home fans. But at the end of the day I have a job to do; I’ve got at bats getting ready for the post season. So it didn’t happen, but the season’s not over yet.”

With post-season spots settled, and the division won — the game was meaningless. The Yankees started Chi Chi Gonzalez, whom most Yankee fans had no idea was on the team or in the organization. New York had picked up the veteran journeyman a month before and stashed him in AAA, putting him on the Yankee roster that morning.

Chi Chi pitched well — one of the few bright spots on the grey rainy cold day.

NY falls to 97-61. Four games left for Judge to hit #62 — all in Texas.

1. Chi Chi Pitched Good

Chi Chi Gonzalez got off to an inauspicious start — he struck out Cedric Mullins to start the game but then a single by Adley Rutschman, walk to Anthony Santander, and RBI double by Ryan Mountcastle made it 1-0 Baltimore, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and only 1 out.

It looked like it was going to be a Looong afternoon.

But Chi Chi got tough — striking out Gunnar Henderson (26th ranked prospect in all of MLB) and Austin Hays to end the inning. And then .. he rolled!

Chi Chi allowed a hit in the 2nd, but got a double play to end the inning, allowed a hit in the 3rd but got the other 3 guys out, and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th. He left with 2 on and 2 out in the 5th — Lucas Luetge coming in to get a huge strikeout to end the inning with the Yanks still down 1-0.

Once upon a time, said Suzyn Waldman on the radio, people thought Chi Chi Gonzalez was going to be a star. He was a 1st round pick by Texas (#23 overall) in 2013, and his 1st four starts in Majors were terrific:

  • In his first MLB start on May 30, 2015, he pitched a shutout into the 6th for Texas against the Red Sox,
  • In his 2nd MLB start threw a complete game 3-hit shutout against KC (on June 5, 2015),
  • In his 3rd MLB start he threw 7 innings of 1-run ball vs Oakland (on June 11, 2015), and
  • In his 4th MLB start he threw 8.1 innings of 5-hit, 2-run ball vs the Dodgers (on June 16, 2015).

Fast forward to 2016 — Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss all of 2017. It’s been a long comeback since then, with stops in Colorado, and earlier this season, the Mets, Minnesota, and Milwaukee. He previously played with Yankee catcher Jose Trevino in college at Oral Roberts University, and in Texas.

2. Judge 0-3 with a Walk

Kyle Bradish started for Baltimore, coming in with a 4-7 5.11 slash line. He went 2-0 on Judge to start the game, then threw 3 straight strikes to strike Judge out looking.

All of Yankee Stadium would rivet on Judge’s at bats — and then as soon as they were over, everyone would go back onto the food lines and under shelter from the endless misty rain that got heavy at times — and cold temps.

In Judge’s 2nd at bat, Judge fouled off the first 2 pitches, then seemingly went around on a high inside pitch that he was ducking — Bradish took umbrage that it was called a ball. Judge then struck out swinging on an 85-MPH curveball.

Bradish walked Judge on 5 pitches in his 3rd at bat. With the walk, Patrick McEnroe had had enough, tweeting, “Memo to all @MLB pitchers Pitch to the man. Geez Louise. Show some guts #judge.”

The walk moved Aaron Hicks, whom Bradish had just walked, to 2nd, with nobody out.

Anthony Rizzo lined out, but Bradish threw a wild pitch allowing both runners to move up — and Adley Rutschman’s throw to 2nd to try and catch Judge went into centerfield. Hicks scored for a 1-1 tie. It would end up being the Yankees’ lone run of the game.

3. Donaldson Clutch D

Lucas Luetge got the big strikeout to end the 5th but ran into trouble in the 6th — after getting the first 2 outs of the inning, a double, walk, and hit by pitch loaded the bases. Jorge Mateo hit a grounder down the line at 3rd that Josh Donaldson made a terrific play on — with a STRONG throw to 1st to nab the speedy Mateo and end the inning. Phew.

4. Chapman Stinks Again

But Aroldis Chapman came in for the 7th and threw the game away: infield single, walk, walk loaded the bases with nobody out. He struck out Mountcastle but then walked Gunnar Henderson (26th prospect in all of MLB) for a 2-1 Orioles lead.

Ron Marinaccio came in and allowed a sac fly to Austin Hays — Baltimore 3 NY 1.

The outing seemingly condemned Chapman to not being on the playoff roster, which means it may have been his last outing in pinstripes as he becomes a free agent at end of year.

4. Marinaccio Pulled with Bad Shin

Ron Marinaccio was pulled from the game with 1 out in the 8th — which caused concern across Yankee Twitter. Afterwards manager Aaron Boone revealed it was due to shin soreness that Marinaccio has been dealing with for some time — and in this game he said it seemed to be bothering him more.

Boone said they’ve had MRI’s in the past on Marinaccio’s shin and they turned out fine. They would schedule another.

5. Schmidt Finishes

Jonathan Loaisiga pitched the rest of the 7th and Clarke Schmidt pitched a shutout 8th. Former Yank Dillon Tate pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401356569

 

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