DJ LeMahieu broke a 2-2 tie with a homer in the 7th inning, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a 2-run homer in the 9th for insurance as the Yanks won their second in a row, 5-2 over Kansas City on a gorgeous summer Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Clay Holmes got the save although it is never easy as KC put 2 runners on in the 9th, but Holmes struck out the final batter, Drew Waters, looking.
The only disappointment on the afternoon was that Gerrit Cole didn’t get the win despite pitching 6.1 terrific innings, striking out 10. His record remains 9-2, with a 2.78 ERA that is second in the American League.
“One swing can boost us,” said Giancarlo Stanton afterwards about DJ LeMahieu’s homer. “Everyone was fired up after that. He took a 99-MPH pitch the opposite way; good swing — and got us rolling.”
NY improves to 52-47, 8.5 behind Baltimore, 7.5 behind Tampa, 2 behind Toronto, and are now tied with Boston. KC falls to 28-72.
1. Cole a Cy Young Candidate
Gerrit Cole was on his game, as usual. He has been consistently fantastic this season, and is a candidate for Cy Young with that 9-2 2.78. He is second in the American League in ERA behind Nathan Eovaldi (2.69) and sixth in wins. As of this writing:
- Eovaldi is 11-3 2.69
- Shane McClanahan is 11-1 2.89
- Zach Eflin is 11-5 3.36
- Chris Bassitt is 10-5 3.92
- Dean Kremer is 10-4 4.80
- Kyle Gibson is 9-6 4.76
- George Kirby is 9-8 3.23
- Joe Ryan is 9-6 3.88
Ace of Ks.
+210 to record 10+ Ks today ✅. Odds from @FDSportsbook pic.twitter.com/2tiRrElq2R
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 22, 2023
Staked to a 1-0 lead, Cole allowed a leadoff homer to Nick Pratto in the 3rd to tie it 1-1.
An unusual play came in the 4th with NY up 2-1 — Bobby Witt Jr layed down a Del Unser drag bunt to attempt a single but the ball seemed to go foul — and DJ LeMahieu swiped it into foul ground to be sure. But the ump signaled Fair Ball! Gerrit Cole — pissed off at the call — swiped the ball off the ground — then saw Witt trying to make it a double — and tossed the ball to 2nd where Witt was tagged out!
Just your average 5-1-6 putout 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/M8lYSP00cV
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 22, 2023
Up 2-1, Cole allowed a single and walk to lead off the 5th, but struck out the next two batters, and looked to get out of the inning but Maikel Garcia laced a 2-out single up the middle for a tie game, 2-2.
In the 7th, Cole retired the first batter when manager Aaron Boone brought in Wandy Peralta to face the lefty Pratto who had hit the HR off Cole earlier, and Cole was at 99 pitches. It thus ended Cole’s shot at a win.
2. Rortvedt Was the Catcher
Ben Rortvedt — catching Cole for the first time with Jose Trevino out for the year, said “Gerrit did a really good job of establishing his fastball glove side today, opening a lot of doors for us.”
Trevino has caught Cole 18 times this year.
Rortvedt said Trevino helped him prepare for the outing “A lot. Talking with him yesterday. Got with him early this morning and talked with him the entire game. He was with me in the dugout walking me through a lot of stuff.”
“It was really fun working with Ben,” said Cole afterwards. “He’s a high aptitude player and good player. Trevi was very much involved today; he helped Ben quite a bit, and really for the most part we were pretty seamless. He called a great game, did a nice job.”
3. Stanton Puts Yanks on Top
The Yanks jumped on top in the game with a run off Brady Singer in the top of the 1st. Last night’s hero Billy McKinney led the game with a walk, and Gleyber Torres reached on an infield single.
Anthony Rizzo‘s troubles continued as he hit into a double play, but Giancarlo Stanton got a Clutch 2-out RBI single for a 1-0 Yankee lead.
Stanton gets us on the board 👊 pic.twitter.com/eNGL4CFAzL
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 22, 2023
4. Volpe Steals a Run to Put Yanks Up 2-1
Anthony Volpe led off the 3rd with a grounds rule double, then stole 3rd as Billy McKinney was striking out. Volpe scored on a sac fly by Gleyber Torres. NY 2 KC 1.
Double ➡️ Stolen Base ➡️ Sac Fly ✅ pic.twitter.com/xoLX2vzI5I
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 22, 2023
5. LeMahieu HR Puts Yanks Up
DJ LeMahieu led off the bottom of the 7th by ripping a 3-2 fastball from Carlos Hernandez into the right-centerfield seats for a 3-2 Yankee lead.
LeMahieu Launch 🚀 pic.twitter.com/Cy9B7VQ6vP
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 22, 2023
6. Wandy & Kahnle Pitch Good
Wandy Peralta got Nick Pratto and Drew Waters after relieving Cole to end the 7th without incident. The DJ LeMahieu HR made Wandy the winner.
Tommy Kahnle pitched a shutout 8th.
7. Giancarlo Insurance Bomb
Up 3-2 the Yankees needed insurance, and in the bottom of the 8th they got it. Just like the 1st inning, Billy McKinney led off with a walk, and with 2 outs Giancarlo Stanton got a clutch hit — this time a 2-run BOMB to left for a 5-2 NY lead.
Stanton Smash 👊 pic.twitter.com/Yld1VZM8DZ
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 22, 2023
8. Holmes Closes
Clay Holmes got the first 2 outs of the 9th but then made it interesting — a single and then a walk (of Nick Pratto) brought the tying run to the plate.
But Holmes struck out Drew Waters looking on an 88 MPH slider that broke in the middle of the plate for the old ballgame.
Be the first to comment