Yankee Doodle Keep It Up! Yankee Doodle Dandy! NY 8 Baltimore 4

July 5, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0
Gleyber Torres a Yankee Doodle Dandy with a 2-run homer in 1st. Later he scored a run from 1st on a single, and doubled and scored in the 7th.

The Yankees scored early and scored late to beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-4 on a July 4th, Tuesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

It gives NY wins in both of the first 2 games of this important 4-game set, as the Yanks pull to within 2 games of the 2nd place Orioles.

Yankee Doodle Keep It Up. Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Gleyber Torres was a hitting star, and star of the basepaths as well. He hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 1st to give NY a 2-0 lead, and then in the 5th with the game tied 3-3, scored from 1st base on a Giancarlo Stanton single — catching the Orioles sleeping. Jose Trevino added a huge insurance HR in the 7th, and Harrison Bader broke the game open with a 2-out, 2-RBI hit that same inning.

On the mound, Clarke Schimdt was great, until he coughed up 2 homers in the 5th to tie the game 3-3, but got the win when NY went ahead on Gleyber’s running heroics in the bottom of the frame. The Yankee bullpen as usual, was terrific.

“Gleyber does have a knack for doing those kinds of things because he’s kind of fearless,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Gleyber scoring the winning run from 1st on the single. “Again sometimes he gets in trouble so you want to reign it in a little bit. But it’s actually kind of a really heads’ up play, knowing that ball is going to come into 2nd, so everything has to lineup perfectly — catch, turn, 2nd baseman even knowing you’re going — turns into a really good play.”

Incredibly, the Yankees got the game in without any rain delays, as heavy thunderstorms rocked the NYC area all afternoon, preceded by massive, dark cumulous clouds. In Staten Island for example, it poured with loud thunder from 1pm to 3:30pm. And Toms River, NJ was dry until 4:30pm, when it got rocked with heavy thunderstorms.

NY improves to 48-38 and pulls to within 8 of Tampa 2 of Baltimore, and remains 2 ahead of Toronto. Baltimore is 49-35.

1. Gleyber a Yankee Doodle Dandy

Gleyber Torres didn’t make the All Star team. He looked like a lock for it a month ago, leading American League 2nd basemen in HR’s and in the top 3 in OBP and OPS, but his batting average has dropped from the . 260’s to the .240’s since then.

But Gleyber stuck a feather in his cap with a 2-run homer as the 2nd batter in the bottom of the 1st, after an Anthony Rizzo leadoff single against 35-year-old righty Kyle Gibson. NY 2 Baltimore 0.

One out later Jake Bauers doubled off the bottom of the wall in left. “I don’t think Aaron Hicks played that ball very well,” said Suzyn Waldman on the radio.

2. Yanks Get Small-Ball Run in 3rd

The Yankees got a small-ball run in the 3rd — and at the heart of it were of course Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Anthony Volpe:

Jake Bauers led off with a walk, and Harrison Bader was hit by a pitch — Anthony Volpe then hit a grounder to move them to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a sac fly. NY 3 Baltimore 0.

3. Schmidt Good Until Mistakes in 5th

Clarke Schmidt meanwhile, looked dynamite. He was using his 95-MPH sinker, 95-MPH four-seam fastball, 90-MPH cutter, 85-MPH sweeper, and 83-MPH knuckle curve to effect — crisp pitches with movement. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th — allowing a leadoff double in the 2nd but getting the next 3 outs.

With NY up 3-0 in the 5th, all looked trepidatiously good.

Hicks Homer. Gets Booed

But in the 5th, old friend Aaron Hicks hit a homer off Schmidt to right center — as Yankee Stadium rained boos on him.

On the broadcast, John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman wondered why Hicks was still being booed so much. The reason of course was that many Yankee fans felt:

  1. Hicks played poorly for a long period of time (several years), in between long stretches of being out with injuries, but also seemed to have a nonchalant way about him in the field — possibly due to loss of confidence but it looked like nonchalance.
  2. After playing miserably for most of the 2022 season, the Yanks traded for a new centerfielder — acquiring Harrison Bader for Jordan Montgomery. Hicks then demanded a trade through the media in the middle of the pennant race in early September, saying he felt he could help a team win if he played more. This after 450 plate appearances in 2022.
  3. Hicks asked for a trade thru the media at the start of 2023, saying he needed to play more and didn’t know what his role was, throwing the manager under the bus.
  4. Now in Baltimore, Hicks has finally been playing well again.

Schmidt then walked 3rd baseman Jordan Westburg and 2nd baseman Adam Frazier hit a 378-foot homer to right center — tie game.

4. Gleyber a Dandy on Basepaths

John Sterling on the broadcast was saying that he criticizes Gleyber a lot, but that’s because he feels he should be a .280 hitter, not a .240 hitter. Sterling didn’t account for the fact that we are in an era of historically low batting averages.

Gleyber has also made some errors on the base paths recently that have drawn the ire of Yankee fans — like the other night when he took off from 2nd on a fly to right that was caught, and was easily doubled off.

Gleyber stuck another feather in his cap in the bottom of the 5th — drawing a 2-out walk, and then scoring all the way from 1st on a pedestrian single up the middle by Giancarlo Stanton!

“I saw the outfield really deep with Stanton hitting,” said Gleyber afterwards. “When I paused at 2nd base — and just anticipated a little bit and looked for one second at the outfield, he was truly deep, and I believe he was going to throw to second so I just took advantage. I know Rojas threw me the stop sign, I threw off there — but happy for the score.”

5. Marinaccio Comes Up Clutch in 6th

With NY back on top 4-3, Schmidt exited stage left after allowing a leadoff single in the 6th. Ron Marinaccio came in and walked Anthony Santander to put 1st and 2nd, nobody out.

Marinaccio then got a strikeout and flyout, to make it 1st and 3rd, 2 outs. He then walked Aaron Hicks on a 3-2 changeup to load the bases.

With bases loaded, 2 outs and the Yankees nursing their 4-3 lead, Marinaccio got Jordan Westburg to pop out to 2nd. PHEW.

6. Trevino Insurance HR; Bader Breaks It Open

Wandy Peralta pitched a shutout 7th and it was to the bottom of the 7th, the Yankees clinging to a 4-3 lead and needing an insurance run or two or three.

Jose Trevino provided one with a 1-out homer to the opposite field short porch in right. Yankees 5 Orioles 3.

And then Gleyber Torres stuck another feather in his cap with a 1-out double to left. Giancarlo Stanton was intentionally walked, and DJ LeMahieu battled back from an 0-2 count to work a walk against reliever Bryan Baker.

With bases loaded, 2 outs, Harrison Bader ripped a 96-MPH fastball to left for 2 runs and a 7-3 Yankee lead.

The Yankees added a run in the 8th when Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a double, and came around to score on an Anthony Rizzo 1-out grounder. NY 8 Baltimore 3.

7. Yankee Bullpen Terrific

After Marinaccio excelled in the 6th, and Wandy excelled in the 7th, Tommy Kahnle pitched a shutout 8th, and Albert Abreu threw strikes in the 9th — single, double, ground out for a run, strikeout, and ground out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472294

 

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*