Michael King LIGHTS OUT. Judge’s Homers Power Yanks. NY 4 Cleveland 1

April 23, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 1

Michael King pitched 3 awesome innings of relief — striking out 8 — and Aaron Judge hit 2 homers and threw out a runner at 3rd — to give Jameson Taillon a win on a beautiful Friday night in the Bronx. Aroldis Chapman got a relatively easy save in the 9th against the torrid-hitting Guardians — formerly Cleveland Indians — one of the best hitting teams in baseball.

The Yanks improve to 8-6, in 2nd place in the AL East a game behind Toronto; Cleveland falls to 7-6.

The game was broadcast on Amazon Prime, which pissed off half of Yankee Twitter.

1. The King

Michael King became the story of the game, with his LIGHTS OUT pitching of the 6th thru 8th innings. “He’s got that kind of starter arsenal. To be able to 2-seam and 4-seam with the fastball, with really good life; changeup; and then the breaking ball is a real factor too,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards.

“It was actually weird, I felt terrible in my pregame bullpen. I could not throw a strike,’ said Michael King afterwards. “It just clicked and I felt good after that. So maybe I need more bad bullpens.”

Catcher Jose Trevino said King’s confidence is up. “The way he’s strutting off the mound when he strikes someone out. This guy is Nasty; Nasty.”

2. Judge: Pay the Man

Aaron Judge played to superstar level — blasting 2 homers and, playing centerfield, rifling a throw to 3rd to gun down a runner in the 5th inning, saving Taillon from what could have been a big inning.

Judge’s 2-run homer to centerfield in the 3rd gave NY a 2-0 lead.

In the 5th, with 1 out, Steven Kwan singled to center and Diarlin Jimenez, who was on 1st — tried to make it to 3rd but Judge gunned him down. Instead of 1 out, 2nd and 3rd, it was 2 outs, runner on 2nd. Huge play. Taillon then got Jose Ramirez to line out to Judge in center to end the threat, and pitch his 5th inning to qualify for a win.

In the bottom of the 5th, Judge homered to right for an insurance run, making it 4-1. Judge was Taillon’s best friend on the evening. Judge went 2 for 3 with a walk, 2 homers, 3 RBI’s and is now batting .280 (.368 OBP) on the season.

3. Kiner-Falefa Ball

The Yanks got an Isiah Kiner-Falefa run in the 4th to make it 3-1 at the time. It was a 2-out Runners-in-Scoring-Position (RISP) hit — Falefa lining a single to center to plate Josh Donaldson, who had led off the inning with a walk, and moved to 3rd on a — get this — Gleyber Torres double (in between strikeouts by Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo).

4. Another Bad Night for Gallo

Joey Gallo misplayed a line drive right at him in left in the 2nd inning — the ball going over his head for a double. It was hard hit but it looked like he should have had it. At the plate, Gallo was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts, lowering his average to .122 (.234 OBP).

5. Taillon Good

Jameson Taillon did well in his start — the 5 innings of 1-run ball for the win. He navigated 7 hits allowed — with some help from Judge (above). The Cleveland run came on a homerun by big bopper Frammil Reyes in the 4th to make it 2-1 Yanks at the time.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401354444

 

 

1 Comment

  1. What a great pickup Kiner-Falefa has been. Keeping Rizzo also a smart move so far. And Donaldson. Cash did good

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*