Gerrit Cole Dominant. Yank Bats Produce. NY 6 Tampa 2

August 26, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 1
DJ LeMahieu with his 2nd homer of the night -- this one in the 8th to make it 6-1 NY.

This was supposed to be the way it worked all year. Yankee batters ripped away all night to support another brilliant performance by Gerrit Cole in taking down Tampa in Tampa, 6-2 on a Friday night.

Cole has held up his part of the bargain, but the Yankee batters have left him high and dry on many occasions — 7 starts to be exact. Cole is still considered one of the front runners for Cy Young and this win moves him to 11-4. 2.95.

DJ LeMahieu hit 2 homers, and Everson Pereira, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gleyber Torres added RBI’s as offensive co-stars.

That Yankee offense handed Zach Eflin — another Cy Young leader —  with the loss. Eflin pitched well — 6 innings of 2 run ball — but falls to 13-8 3.55. NY scored 4 runs against the Tampa pen.

“He’s in the middle of a really special season,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Cole’s performance. “To me (this start) felt as good as any I’ve seen. He looked really, really good. I said to him afterwards, ‘that’s about as good as I’ve seen you, right there.’ That’s what it looked like to me, against obviously a really good offense that’s familiar with him.”

NY is now 62-66, 18 behind Baltimore, 15 behind Tampa, 7.5 behind Toronto, 5.5 behind Boston and 10 behind a Wild Card. The Yanks need a historic 25-9 finish to get to 87 wins.

1. Cole Brilliant

Gerrit Cole blew through the Tampa lineup — striking out 11, walking nobody, allowing only 3 hits, and keeping a low pitch count that allowed him to last into the 8th inning.

Cole’s lone mistake on the night was a slider that hung too much over the plate in the 6th and was knocked over the centerfield wall by Yandy Diaz to make it a 2-1 Yankee lead at the time.

After that Cole continued to motor thru the Tampa lineup, leaving at 100 pitches with 2 outs in the 8th after a leadoff error by Oswald Peraza had put a runner on.

Jonathan Loaisiga came in with the runner on and 2 outs in the 8th and immediately hit a batter. He then allowed a single to score an unearned run and it was 6-2 with 1st and 3rd and just a little bit of agita forming for Yankee fans. But Loaisiga got Randy Arozarena to ground out to Anthony Volpe to end the inning. Phew.

2. LeMahieu HR Puts Yanks on Top

Meanwhile Eflin was shutting out the Yanks until the top of the 5th when DJ LeMahieu got to him with a 393-foot homer to left center to make it 1-0 NY.

3. Pereira Another Hit & RBI

The Yanks continued to pepper Eflin in the top of the 6th with a leadoff single by Gleyber Torres, and Giancarlo Stanton working a 7-pitch walk.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Anthony Volpe both lined out — but Everson Pereira came through with a clutch RBI single to right and it was 2-0 NY.

4. Torres & Giancarlo Back-t0-Back RBI Doubles

Tampa went to their pen for Trevor Kelley to start the 7th and the Yankees pounced. DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge worked 1-out walks, and Gleyber Torres RIPPED a grounds-rule double to left — one bounce into the seats — that put NY up 3-1.

Giancarlo Stanton followed with a rocket off the wall in left center for a double that scored Judge and Gleyber and it was 5-1 NY.

5. LeMahieu HR #2

DJ LeMahieu added an insurance run with a 405-foot solo homer to left center in the top of the 8th against Kelley. NY 6 Tampa 1.

It was LeMahieu’s 3rd hit of the night — raising his average to .245 (.325 OBP) which is like a .280 average a few years ago (in terms of number of players hitting that high).

6. Loaisiga Finishes

After a little bit of agita in the 8th, Loaisiga got some help from his defense to start the 9th — Anthony Volpe making a terrific diving play at shortstop to get Harold Ramirez out.

Loaisiga then got the next 2 outs — popout, fly out — for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472943

 

1 Comment

  1. What a wonderful game. The new batting coach is really helping D. J.
    crank his game up. New guys contributing immensely. Giancarlo crushing
    doubles into the wall, like Mike Angelo smashing homeruns in the Sistine
    Chapel in the Vatican. The angels are laughing in heaven again. Even
    the devil is laughing in hell. Now that the ship is sunk, the pressure
    has evaporated, and the Yankees can move towards being a 500 team to end
    the year.

    Reply

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