Cortes Goes Down for MRI. Stroman Snake-Bit. Baltimore 9 NY 7

September 26, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Aaron Judge hits 57th homer of year in the 9th -- a 3-run bomb that made the game 9-7.

Before the game the Yanks announced that Nestor Cortes was going for an MRI due to a flexor strain to his left elbow.

Marcus Stroman was injected back into the starting rotation — and was snakebit — allowing 3 runs off 6 straight singles to start the game — one of them actually a terrible error by leftfielder Jasson Dominguez, who simply failed to catch a catchable ball with bases loaded — and most of the others weakly hit grounders up the middle that inexplicably went through.

Stroman rebounded to pitch 3 shutout innings before getting snakebit some more in the 4th — a couple more grounders that went through up the middle for singles — before yielding to Clayton Beeter, who got ripped for consecutive doubles and it was 7-1.

Down 8-1 at one point, the Yanks came back on a 2-run Homer by Juan Soto in the 5th, and a 3-run homer by Aaron Judge with 1 out in the 9th to make it 9-7. NY was within a bloop and a blast but never got the bloop.

“It’s just baseball,” said Stroman afterwards when asked about the balls that found holes and plays that weren’t made behind him in the 1st inning. “It’s frustrating but at the end of the day I didn’t execute; I didn’t do my job out there to put my team in position to win. I feel I was inconsistent in my mechanics; the shapes of my pitches were varying from pitch to pitch.”

NY drops its 2nd straight to Baltimore to fall to 92-66; Baltimore improves to 88-70. With 4 games left the Yanks’ magic number to clinch the AL East remains at 1.

1. Stroman Snake Bit

The game started out like this:

  1. Gunnar Henderson hit a broken-bat looper toward 2nd that Anthony Volpe made the play on — but Henderson ‘just’ beat it out for an infield single.
  2. Jordan Westburg hit a grounder to 2nd that ‘just’ skipped past Volpe for a single to center.
  3. Anthony Santander looped a ball toward 2nd ‘just’ over the glove of a leaping Volpe for a single to right center.
  4. Colton Cowser hit a fly to left that Jasson Dominguez raced over to catch — and absolutely missed it. It was ruled a double since The Martian never got his glove on the ball. Two runs scored and it was Baltimore 2 NY 0 — although Santander was thrown out at 3rd.
  5. Ryan Mountcastle hit a grounder just past Volpe at shortstop for an RBI single — Baltimore 3 NY 0.
  6. Ryan O’Hearn hit a sharp single through the hole between 1st and 2nd — it was the hardest hit ball Stroman had allowed all inning.

Stroman finally got the last 2 outs of the inning, then pitched a shutout 2nd — helped by Austin Wells throwing out Gunnar Henderson trying to steal 2nd after Henderson reached on a 1-out single.

Stroman pitched a shutout 3rd, pitching around a 2-out error by Anthony Volpe that allowed Mountcastle to reach.

But in the 4th, the snake came out to bite Stroman again. He allowed:

  1. Raman Urias led off with a sharp single to center,
  2. Cedric Mullins hit a grounder through the hole up the middle for a single, sending Urias to 3rd. Mullins then stole 2nd.
  3. McCann flied out, but
  4. Gunnar Henderson hit a grounder through the hole over 2nd for a 2-RBI single. Baltimore 5 NY 1.

And Stroman was gone — replaced by Clayton Beeter — the high-prospect who had just been added to the roster. It was Beeter’s 2nd appeareance in the bigs.

Bad Outfield Defense Snake-Bites Beeter

Beeter struck out Westbrook but then allowed an RBI double to Santander ‘just over’ the glove of Juan Soto in right and it was 6-1 Baltimore. Colton Cowser hit single to right center that inexplicably got past Juan Soto — it went for an RBI double and Baltimore was up 7-1.

2. Volpe Drives in Yanks’ 1st Run

Meanwhile Zach Eflin was walking a lot of guys but getting out of it.

He walked Juan Soto and Aaron Judge with 1 out in the 1st, but Austin Wells hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the 2nd, Eflin walked Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo in between 2 outs — and Anthony Volpe came through with a Clutch 2-out RBI single to left to make it a 3-1 game.

3. Soto HR Makes It 8-3 in 5th

After that, Eflin retired 7 in a row before Anthony Rizzo led off the 5th with a single. Eflin got a fly out and ground out, but Juan Soto got him with a 2-run homer to right center and it was an 8-3 game.

4. Beeter’s 2nd Appearance in Bigs

After allowing the two RBI doubles and getting 2 strikeouts in the 4th, Clayton Beeter pitched the 5th — getting 2 outs, but then walking Cedric Mullins, who stole 2nd and then scored on an RBI single by McCann, making it 8-1 Baltimore.

Beeter is a 25-year-old, 6’2 righty who was expected to possibly make the team in Spring training, but was shut down for 4 months with a shoulder issue. He went 3-1 2.25 for AAA Scranton.

5. Poteet with 3 Good Innings

Cody Poteet is back — and he pitched 3 good innings: a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th and 7th – before pitching around a leadoff double and single in the 8th — allowing only 1 run, leaving the bases loaded.

6. Leiter a Shutout 9th

Mark Leiter Jr. pitched a shutout 9th — more hope for the Yanks as he is considered a good reliever but has not pithed well for NY since being acquired at the trade deadline, giving up the gopher ball.

7. Judge #57 Pulls Yanks Close

The game seemed over — NY down 9-3 in the 9th, when Anthony Rizzo led off with a single against Matt Bowman, Gleyber Torres singled with 1 out, and Juan Soto singled in a run.

Aaron Judge then hit his 57th homer of the year — with John Sterling making the call on the radio — a 3-run bomb for a 9-7 game.

All NY needed was a bloop and a blast — and if Austin Wells could supply the bloop, Giancarlo Stanton was the next batter after him. Baltimore brought in Akin to pitch and Austin Wells worked the count to 3-2 — before hitting a high fly to left. Giancarlo Stanton then popped out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570831

 

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