Michael King & Jhony Brito Shut the Door. NY 4 Detroit 2

August 30, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0
Gleyber Torres with a 454-foot Homer to centerfield -- the longest HR of his career -- to put NY up 1-0 in the 1st inning. Gleyber leads all American League 2nd basemen in homers with 22.

Michael King — in his attempt to climb out of the bullpen and become a starting pitcher again — pitched 4 shutout innings, and Jhony Brito followed with 3.1 shutout innings as the Yankees beat Detroit 4-2.

Gleyber Torres, Kyle Higashioka, and Anthony Volpe hit solo homers to provide most of the Yankee offense. Clay Holmes was shaky in the 9th but managed to get the final strikeout.

For the first time in almost a month, the Yankees have won 2 games in a row.

On a Tuesday night in Detroit. Rain threatening late, and it poured just after the game ended.

“First and foremost he’s confident,” said manager Aaron Boone of Michael King afterwards of his ability to be a starter. “He’s got a great disposition about him, and kind of has that starter look and way about him. And he’s done it his whole life. It’s just a matter of does it translate over the long haul. He’s getting more and more opportunities, and you have to like what you’re seeing.”

NY improves to 64-68, in last place a whole bunch of games behind everyone, and 11 behind the Wild Card. Detroit falls to 59-73.

1. Donaldson Released. Bader Put on Waivers

The game was marked by the appearance of Harrison Bader in centerfield — who was reportedly put on Waivers just before game time. And yet there he was making a catch in the outfield in the 3rd inning.

This caused a whirlwind of confusion on Yankee Twitter so much so that Justin Shackil told Suzyn Waldman about it on the radio broadcast, and asked her to explain. She said Bader had been put on waivers, and now it is up to a team to take him off waivers. Until then, he’s a Yankee. Bader becomes a free agent at season’s end so a team picking him up would pay the last month of his $5.5 M/yr salary.

NY also released Josh Donaldson earlier in the day. Both become eligible to be added to the post-season rosters of a team picking them up.

In the game, Bader continued his recent slump, going 0-4 to lower his average to .239. He also allowed a single up the middle to go thru his legs in the 3rd inning, putting 1st and 3rd. But Michael King got a popout and groundout to end the inning.

Afterwards, Bader said he learned he had been put on waivers on ESPN.

Donaldson

Josh Donaldson thanked Yankee fans for their support, and we saluted him back (which we got some hate tweets for but a lot of Yankee fans agreed):

2. King Tremendous

Bader came to NY in a famous trade for Jordan Montgomery at last year’s trade deadline. Monty has done well in St Louis and now Texas — he is currently 8-10 3.19 this year — so there are some who are saying it was a bad trade for NY.

But Bader was huge in last year’s playoffs and it’s arguable to say how valuable a good starting pitcher is in an era of Pitching Ninja where everyone and their grandmother is pitching great. The Yanks have pulled good starters out of their ass this year — with injuries to Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes, the Yanks found able replacements in Clarke Schmidt, Domingo German who pitched a perfect game, Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez.

And now Michael King — who was a great starter in the minors (11-5 1.79 in 2018 at multiple levels) but would often melt in the 5th or 6th innings with the Yanks two years ago before finding a home as a 2-3 innings pitcher in the pen.

King feels he has developed a bigger repertoire of pitches that will enable him to go thru lineups 3 times, and has asked for a chance to be a starter again.

And King looked good again in this start — 4 shutout innings, 3 hits, 5 strikeouts, no walks.

King made Pitching Ninja highlights:

3. Gleyber Longest HR of His Career

Gleyber Torres got the Yanks on top in the top of the 1st with what was reported as the longest homerun in his career — a 454-foot blast to left center off Tarik Skubal. NY 1 Detroit 0.

It was Gleyber’s 22nd homer of the year — he leads all American League 2nd basemen in HR’s. Aaron Judge once said back in 2019 or so that Gleyber was the best hitter on the team, and after a couple of down years, Gleyber is showing that now. He leads the Yankees in batting average at .271 — and is slashing 22-56-.271 (.339 OBP) in an era of historically low averages. He is 21st in the AL in batting, which would be a .300 average years go in terms of number of players hitting that high.

4. Higgy HR

Skubal is a 26-year-old, 6’3 lefty who throws a 97-MPH fastball and a 77-MPH knuckle curve, 85-MPH slider, and 82-MPH changeup. He entered with a 3-2 4.06 record and gave the Yanks trouble — striking out 9 and allowing only 4 hits in 6 innings.

After Gleyber’s homer, he retired the Yankees easily in the 2nd thru 4th innings, and got the first 2 Yanks in the 5th before Kyle Higashioka got to him with a homer to left center. NY 2 Detroit 0.

5. Yanks Tack on a Run

The Yanks finally knocked out Skubal in the 6th — Aaron Judge got on with an infield single, Gleyber Torres was hit by a pitch, and Giancarlo Stanton singled to load the bases with 1 out.

Anthony Volpe struck out for the 2nd out, but a passed ball by Carson Kelly while Skubal was pitching to Bader allowed Judge to score. NY 3 Detroit 0.

6. Brito Terrific

Meanwhile Jhony Brito came in to relieve King for the 5th, and looked good also — pitching a shutout 5th thru 7th inning. Brito also made Pitching Ninja highlights:

Brito got in a little trouble in the 7th, with runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out, but got a double play to end it.

Brito allowed a walk with 1 out in the 8th, and was relieved by Wandy Peralta. On Wandy’s second pitch, Greene hit a soft liner that Gleyber Torres dove for and caught, turning it into a double play to end the inning.

7. Volpe Insurance Homer

Anthony Volpe hit a solo homer in the 9th to put NY up 4-0. It was his 19th homer of this, his rookie season.

8. Holmes Agita

Clay Holmes did it again in the 9th — gave Yankee fans agita out of the blue. He walked Spencer Torkelson to lead off, then got 2 outs and the Yanks were an out away from a 4-0 victory.

But rightfielder Zach McKinstry doubled and Parker Meadows singled in 2 runs and it was 4-2 NY.

Shortstop Javier Baez came up as the tying run. Baez, now 30 years old, hit over 20 homers 4 times for the Cubs, hitting a high of 34 in 2018. But Holmes reared back and struck him out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401473001

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