And on the 7th day, Yankee Twitter rested, and sat back with calm watching NY blitz Boston 14-1.
The Yanks had lost 5 of their last 6 games, and Jameson Taillon was pitching to an ERA over 6.00 since throwing a near Perfect Game in early June.
Worse, Taillon allowed a homerun to Rafael Devers in the top of the 1st inning to put NY immediately behind, 1-0.
But NY scored 4 in the bottom of the 1st off a Matt Carpenter 3-run homer, and scored 4 more in the 5th off a homer by Aaron Judge and ANOTHER 3-run bomb by Carpenter — to win walking away. Judge added ANOTHER homer later in the 14-1 blowout.
On a warm Saturday night in the Bronx. The game broadcast nationally on Fox.
NY pushed its AL East lead back to 13 games over Tampa, 14.5 over Toronto, and 15.5 over Boston.
1. The Matt Carpenter Show
The story of the night was Matt Carpenter, with his two 3-run bombs. His story was amplified on the national Fox broadcast against the Red Sox.
Carpenter drove in 7 runs. He joined Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio as the only Yankees to have two 7-RBI games in a season. His slash line is now 13-31-.360 (.473 OBP, 1.406 OPS) in 75 At Bats.
“It’s short to the ball. He’s always on balance,” said Aaron Judge about Matt Carpenter’s swing, afterwards. “It looks like he’s ready for every single pitch. Even when he’s down 0-2 and he fouls a pitch off, it’s like “was he looking for that?” He can use the whole field. And it’s just consistent at bat after consistent at bat. If it’s not over the plate he ain’t swinging.”
His first 3-run homer was HUGE — putting the Yanks up 4-1. NY had just tied the game in the bottom of the 1st against Bosox starter Nick Pivetta on a Josh Donaldson RBI groundout that followed an Aaron Judge single, Anthony Rizzo double, and Giancarlo Stanton walk that had loaded the bases.
Up stepped Carpenter with 2 out. BOOM. Homer to the short porch in right for a 4-1 Yankee lead.
'Stache Money. pic.twitter.com/MmaOMK0H5R
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 16, 2022
2. Judge Joins the Show
Pivetta settled down and kept the score 4-1 until the 5th when Aaron Judge joined the Matt Carpenter Show with a 401-foot bomb to left — his MLB-leading 32nd of the year — for a 5-1 lead.
No.32 for The Judge 👨⚖️ pic.twitter.com/o7myKYkrmu
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
Rizzo followed with a single, Stanton doubled, and the Red Sox pulled Pivetta and brought in Darwinzon Hernandez. Carpenter met him with a 363-foot bomb to right and it was 8-1.
Stop! 🔨 time. @MattCarp13 pic.twitter.com/Cqb6ZYP4iM
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
The Sox brought in Kaleb Ort to pitch the 6th and he walked DJ LeMahieu leading off, followed by an Aaron Judge massive 444-foot bomb into the bullpen in left for a 10-1 lead. It was Judge’s 33rd homer of the year and the game was officially a laugher.
444 ft for Homer No. 33 👨⚖️#AllRise pic.twitter.com/aF4sJXrWtg
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
3. Taillon Terrific
Meanwhile the best news of the evening was the way Jameson Taillon pitched — which was: beautifully. He had struggled since early June but after the last start, manager Aaron Boone said Taillon had great stuff, he was just making some mistakes at the wrong time.
In this one — Taillon cleaned up his mistakes — in fact there were none after the Devers homer in the 1st — and who can blame him for that. Devers devours the Yankees and everyone.
Taillon said he made some minor adjustments before the start; nothing mechanical. “It was understanding where my miss areas are,” said Taillon. “If I’m throwing a slider make sure I’m throwing it to the edge, or off. Don’t back ’em up and leave them over the middle. Stuff like that. But it really wasn’t anything too crazy.”
Taillon allowed only one other hit after the Devers homer — pitching 6 innings of 2-hit baseball, allowing the 1 run — and improving his slash line to 10-2 3.86. Dear All Star game decision makers — if someone can’t pitch, please invite Taillon.
Jamo with a 💎@JTaillon50 👏 pic.twitter.com/Hs3pTRBjj7
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
Taillon credited the Yankee offense for making it easy for him. “I was pretty upset coming off the mound there,” said Taillon about the 1st inning and the homer to Devers. “That’s just a pitch I know better not to leave in that spot. And they (the Yankee offense) answered with 4 runs, and that really set the tone for the rest of the game.; put the momentum in our favor and it kind of never left. I was able to attack and get a bunch of quick outs; pound the zone; and for a guy who hasn’t had the results going my way, it was a night to get those quick outs kind of flowing.”
4. Yanks Make It a Laugher in the 8th
The Red Sox brought in Austin Davis to pitch the bottom of the 8th, down 10-1, and it got ugly. Davis hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch, walked Giancarlo Stanton, and allowed an infield single to Josh Donaldson.
Davis then walked Matt Carpenter for his 7th RBI.
Aaron Hicks followed with a grounder to 3rd — but Bobby Dalbec threw it away and it was 12-1 NY. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled in 2 more runs and it was 14-1. Jose Trevino singled and the Bosox finally pulled Davis. In came Jake Diekman to get the final outs.
5. Yanks Choose Red Sox Destroyer: Weber
The Yankees emulated Ghostbusters by bringing in former Red Sox reliever Ryan Weber to be the Red Sox final destroyer — he pitched the last 3 innings and threw shutout ball.
Weber has been signed and released by the Yankees twice in the last month — due to a baseball Collective Bargaining Rule numbers game. Weber was released on June 20th, resigned on July 3rd, designated for assignment on July 6th, and took the mound in the 7th last night.
Weber signed with the Yanks in the winter, and has been terrific at Scranton in AAA and whenever the Yanks have called him up. But they keep having to release him and resign him.
He has now pitched 7.1 innings for the Yanks this year with a 1.17 ERA. He got the save by pitching the final 3 innings.
Etcetera
- Aaron Judge showed signs of breaking out of a mini slump by going 3-3 with the 2 homers and a walk. He raised his average to .281 and now slashes 33-69-.281 (.360 OBP). He leads the majors in homers and runs scored (72).
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355588
What a breeze this game was. We had company over and one was a Mets fan. Wonderful Yankee win, then we turned on the Mets game and they won the 2nd game to sweep their doubleheader. Good day for NY sports.