JP Sears Shuts ‘Em Out! Miggy Wins It! NY 2 Baltimore 0

May 26, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0

In his first major league start, JP Sears shutout the Baltimore Orioles for 5 innings, and the Yankee bullpen shut them out the rest of the way en route to a 2-0 NY win at Yankee Stadium. Miguel Andujar got the only RBI off a single in the 4th, with Gleyber Torres scoring on an error after Andujar stole 2nd.

The Yanks have apparently snapped out of their skid — winning 2 in a row after losing 3 in a row. Their record is now 31-13, the best record in baseball. Baltimore falls to 10-27. Albiet NY is now dealing with a fuselage of injuries — with Aroldis Chapman on the Injured List (IL), Chad Green out for the year, Luis Gil out for the year, and Giancarlo Stanton on the IL as well.

Highlights

1. Sears Looks Good!

JP Sears had a terrific year in the minors for the Yanks last year, going 10-2 in AA and AAA. He’s a 5’11, 170-lb lefty starter who was a big strikeout pitcher in the NCAA playing for Citadel in 2017. Seattle drafted him in the 11th round in 2017, then traded him to the Yankees with Juan Then for Nick Rumbelow.

Sears was with the big club in Spring training this year, and got RIPPED in one particular start after which all of Yankee Twitter including us felt he was a goner — off the Yankee roster and headed to the minors to start the season. But he pitched well his last appearance and did make the opening day Yankee team.

Since then he’s been back and forth between Scranton and NY — and in this game got his first start.

He threw 93-MPH fastballs, 82-MPH sliders, and 81-MPH changeups to shut down the Oriole lineup on 3 hits, striking out 5.

The scouting report on Sears from MLB.com:

“Though Sears’ fastball sits at just 90-93 mph and maxes out at 95, hitters don’t get good swing against it. He’s just 5-foot-11 and his low arm slot makes it seem like he’s throwing uphill, producing a flat approach angle and lots of riding action up in the zone. His slider also lacks power, parking at 78-81 mph, but it too misses bats because it has plenty of sweep as well as two-plane depth when he stays on top of it. He’ll use a decent changeup with fade to give batters a different look, but it’s often too firm.

Sears doesn’t have much margin for error and succeeds by avoiding mistakes. He has a fairly simple delivery and repeats it well, enabling him to locate his pitches where he needs to. His size leads to long-term durability concerns if he remains a starter, though that’s probably a moot point because he seems destined to be a multi-inning reliever who concentrates on his invisiball and slider.”

The old ‘invisiball’. Have to love it that the Yanks now have a pitcher with one of those. Like Harry Potter.

2. Andujar at Heart of Offense

The injury to Giancarlo Stanton has given Miguel Andujar another chance to show off his BAT with the Yankees. He was in AAA with Scranton — 4-10-.289 (.337 OBP) in 97 at bats– a place where he should not be. He’s become a decent defensive left fielder — with a defensive trajectory that gives you thought he might become a good one.

With Tyler Wells on the mound for Baltimore — a big 6’8 righty the complete opposite of Sears height wise — Aaron Judge led off the 4th with a shot to left that just missed going out — instead it bounced over the wall for a grounds rule double.

With one out Gleyber Torres singled and Andujar ripped a single to left for the 1-0 Yankee lead.

Andujar then stole 2nd base, and Gleyber scored on an error by Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman.

Miggy went 2 for 3 and is now at .307 with the big club this year.

3. Yankee Bullpen Nails It Down

And that was it for the scoring in the game.

Rob Marinaccio pitched 2 impressive scoreless innings — hopefully he has found himself after getting beaten up for a few appearances and getting sent down.

Lucas Luetge and Miguel Castro shared the 8th, and Clay Holmes and his filthy slider closed it in the 9th.

Holmes allowed a 1-out single, but got the 2nd out and apparently the 3rd out when Rougned Odor hit a pop up between 2nd and centerfield. Gleyber, Aaron Judge, and Aaron Hicks converged on it — but it dropped in. It was clearly Hicks’ ball but he didn’t run in fast enough — hesitating at the last second — and Yankee Twitter exploded about his non-aggressive play.

Instead of game over, Baltimore had 1st and 3rd, down 2-0.

But Holmes struck out Jorge Mateo for the old ballgame. Phew.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401354886

 

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