Yanks Klub Kluber; Blister Devil Rays. NY 10 Tampa 3

September 11, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0

The bottom of the first against Corey Kluber went like this:

The Yanks added a run in the 2nd to go up 7-0, and a couple of runs late to CRUISE to the 10-3 victory, as on the other hill, Jameson Taillon was BRILLIANT — mowing down Tampa with strike, strike, strike, and out, out, out — into the 8th inning.

It was a HUGE win for NY — which pushes its lead back in the division to 4.5 over Tampa, 5 over Toronto, and 10.5 over Baltimore. NY is now 84-56.

“Big game here against a team that’s hot on our tail,” said Taillon afterwards. “The dugout and the energy in there was crazy high after that inning. It was building. It was building. Guys were yelling some pretty funny stuff. Just passing the torch to the next guy, getting the job done.”

1. Yankees BLISTERED Kluber with Singles

Just a week ago, Kluber stifled the Yanks with 7 innings of 2-hit, shutout baseball. But that also made it the 2nd time the Yankee lineup would be seeing Kluber in a week — and they had a game plan.

And apparently, Kluber didn’t have “it”.

The only single that wasn’t a single but turned out to be a single was by Josh Donaldson — who hit a drive to right that bounced off the top of the wall — and Donaldson was ‘held’ to a single.

Donaldson had just returned to the Yankee lineup after being out a few days on Paternity Leave, as his wife gave birth to their daughter.

The other single in the 1st that wasn’t a single was the first out — Higgy ripping one up the middle but Tampa’s 2nd baseman Brandon Lowe making a terrific diving play to rob Higgy of a single up the middle, then flipping it via his glove to Wander Franco for the force at 2nd.

Aaron Judge got 2 (two) singles in the 1st inning — raising his average to .307, and putting him in 4th place in the American League — in range of Xander Bogaerts who leads the league with a .318. Judge would finish the day 3 for 4 with a walk — and a .307 average.

Kluber’s klobbering made Frankie Montas‘s start of the night before that much more impressive — as Montas had pitched 5 brilliant shutout innings against Tampa a week ago, but in last night’s game, struggled a bit. Tampa clearly had a game plan going in against Montas but he mostly weathered it — providing a solid start (6 innings, 4 runs — 3 due to Aaron Hicks misplays).

2. Donaldson Does Get HR in 2nd

Josh Donaldson — having just missed a homer in the 1st when the ball bounced off top of the wall and into play — incredibly hit an almost identical shot that hit identically on top of the right field wall in the 2nd inning — this one bounced into the bleachers for a homerun to make it 7-0. The first hit off top of the wall over the Bank of America sign (and into play); the second hit off top of the wall over the Yankee baseball cap sign (and into bleachers). To see the two homers, watch here.

“He hit that homerun for his baby daughter!” — exclaimed John Sterling on the radio. Suzyn Waldman noted later that Donaldson had enthusiastic, high energy in the dugout throughout the game — he was having a ball. “This is the Josh Donaldson they traded for,” said Suzyn.

3. Taillon Terrific

Jameson Taillon did not face Tampa a week ago — his last start was against Minnesota just after the Tampa series. And so that may have played a little bit to his advantage.

Or maybe Taillon would have shut out Tampa had they seen him 5 times in the last 5 weeks. Taillon was “on” — filling the zone with strikes and getting out after out. Or as John Sterling said on the radio in the 7th inning: “Taillon throwing strike after strike after strike.”

“I thought we did a good job of kind of moving every pitch all over the place, don’t settle in on any one area,” said Taillon afterwards.

Tailon allowed a run in the 3rd on an RBI double by Wander Franco, and in the 8th, leading 9-1, allowed a leadoff single, then double — struck out Wander Franco and was lifted.

Lou Trivino came in and struck out Randy Arozarena but allowed a 2-out single to Harold Ramirez scoring both runners — both charged to Taillon — before getting the final out. It made it 9-3 NY in the 8th. No harm, no foul.

Taillon’s slash line: 7.1 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs, 8 K’s, 1 walk — 99 pitches. He wins to go 13-4 3.94.

4. Yankees Lead Majors in Homers & Babies Born

After Donaldson’s homer, reporter Marly Rivera asked if the Yankees led the league in babies born — as Marwin Gonzalez‘s wife gave birth earlier in the week.

Later in the game, Jose Trevino  — out for a few days on Paternity Leave himself — tweeted that his son had been born.

Suzyn Waldman read Rivera’s and Trevino’s tweets on the radio, and confirmed that the Yankees did indeed lead the majors in homeruns and babies born.

5. Stanton Homer off the Foul Pole

Down 9-3 in the bottom of the 8th, the Rays brought in catcher Christian Bethancourt to pitch, and Giancarlo Stanton ripped a 47-MPH Eephus pitch into the foul pole in left for a homer and a 10-3 lead.

6. Yanks Banged Out 15 Hits

The 7 straight singles to lead off the game began a Yankee hit parade on the day — NY banged out 15 hits: Aaron Judge went 3 for 4, and Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, Gleyber Torres, Oswaldo Cabrera, Miguel Andujar, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had 2 hits each.

7. Loaisiga Ends It

Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a shutout 9th — going 3-2 on all 3 batters he faced, but getting them all out — ground out, fly out, ground out — for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401356294

 

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