DJ LeMahieu to the Rescue! Grand Slam & 6 RBI ! NY 6 Philly 5

DJ LeMahieu Grand Slam.
DJ LeMahieu Grand Slam.

It’s been a great week for manager Aaron Boone — as the Yanks have won 5 of 6 against the Red Sox and the Phillies and it seems all of Boone’s recent managerial moves have been paying off.

One move that had not been paying off was continuing to play DJ LeMahieu despite his season-long slump — and even that paid off in this game as DJ LeMahieu hit a Grand Slam in the 2nd and had a 2-RBI double in the 6th to account for all the Yankee runs in a 6-5 win in Philly on a HOT (mid 90’s), HUMID Wednesday afternoon — start time 12:30pm.

GM Brian Cashman’s moves have been paying off as well — and in this one NOT trading Nestor Cortes Jr. (to make room for Jack Flaherty who the Yanks were rumored to be pursuing) — was just what the doctor ordered, as Cortes pitched a solid start into the 6th inning, leaving with a 6-3 lead.

Newly acquired Mark Leiter Jr. escaped a pressure-packed 8th inning, striking out the last batter to leave the bases loaded, and Clay Holmes — still the Yankees’ closer — pitched a shutout 9th, getting a double play to end it.

“Hot day; tone setter; pitching into the 6th against that group,” said manager Aaron Boone about Cortes. “I thought he did a really good job.”

“It was all speculation, my name being thrown around,” said Nestor Cortes about the trade rumors. “There’s nothing that I feel concrete about it; I was just ready to make my start today — that’s what I work for — and hopefully I can put up a string of good starts going forward.”

“Hoping and knowing I would still be on this team kept me going,” added Cortes when asked how he got thru the trade rumor period mentally. “There was a lot of speculation; a lot of people put up trade rumors to see what sticks, and nothing stuck so I’m happy it didn’t.”

The Yankees sweep the 3-game series vs Philly and improve to 65-45, still .5 behind Baltimore which won its afternoon game. Philly drops to 65-43.

1. LeMahieu Slam Puts Yanks Up 4-0 in 2nd

Philly started Christopher Sanchez, a 27-year-old, 6’1 lefty who leads the National League in least homeruns allowed with .2 per 9 innings. Sanchez got the Yanks out 1-2-3 in the top of the 1st, but in the 2nd, Giancarlo Stanton led off with a single, Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, and after Anthony Volpe struck out, Alex Verdugo walked to load the bases and bring up DJ LeMahieu with 1 out.

LeMahieu has made a penchant of hitting ground balls this year — and ‘inning-ending double play’ was on many Yankee fans’ minds when DJ ripped an 83-MPH slider for a Grand Slam to left — against Sanchez who as mentioned gives up the fewest homers in the league. “That’s baseball, Suzyn.”

The homer initially looked like a double off the wall, but umps ruled it had gone over the fence and bounced back in.

2. Cortes with a Solid Outing

That gave Nestor Cortes Jr a 4-0 lead and Nestor, who had set down the Phillies 1-2-3 in the 1st, continued to mow them down — pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd and 3rd — retiring the first 9 men of the game.

Nestor was in high form, and with the trade rumors behind him, went into some windup hijinx fun.

Cortes allowed 2 runs in the 4th on a walk, double, strikeout, groundout for a run, and single for another run and a 4-2 game — before getting the final out.

Nestor then allowed a solo homer to 2nd baseman Weston Wilson leading off the 5th to make it 4-3, before retiring the rest of the side.

3. LeMahieu Makes It 6-3 in 6th

LeMahieu and the Yanks gave Nestor more margin in the top of the 6th — with 2 outs, Volpe reached on a single and Verdugo singled to left, knocking out Sanchez.

Jose Ruiz came in and DJ LeMahieu greeted him with a Clutch, 2-out, 2-RBI double to right for a 6-3 Yankee lead.

4. Weaver Relieves Nestor

Nestor got Bryce Harper to fly out to start the bottom of the 6th, and at 99 pitches, was relieved by Luke Weaver — with the score 6-3 NY.

Nestor’s final line: 5.1 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs, 6 K’s, 2 walks. He wins to go 5-9 4.16.

5. Kahnle Saves Weaver

Weaver wasn’t as sharp as usual — he allowed a triple to Alec Bohm — the first batter he faced in the 6th — and then a groundout to Nick Castellanos scoring Bohm and making the score 6-4 NY.

Weaver got the final out of the 6th but allowed a leadoff single in the 7th to Bryson Stott, before getting a groundout and being relieved by Tommy Kahnle. Kahnle walked a batter but then got a strikeout and fly out to end the threat. NY 6 Philly 4 thru 7 innings.

6. Leiter Leaves ‘Em Loaded in 8th

Mark Leiter Jr. pitched the 8th — allowing a 1-out double to Alec Bohm, and RBI single to Castellanos making it a 6-5 game with still only 1 out.

Leiter then got a strikeout for the 2nd out, but allowed a single and a walk to load the bases — before striking out Brandon Marsh on 4 pitches. PHEW.

7. Holmes the Save

And then came the Clay Holmes Rollercoaster Show 9th inning — in a 6-5 game, Yankees lead. Clay allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Schwarber and here we go again — like being ratcheted to the top of the initial hill on The Cyclone.

But Holmes got Austin Hays to fly out to medium left, and Bryce Harper to hit a first-pitch slider on the ground to 2nd for a Gleyber-to-Volpe-to-LeMahieu doubleplay and the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • Aaron Judge — who has been RED HOT and just got 3 hits and 2 walks the night before — went 0-4 with 4 strikeouts, while DJ LeMahieu who has been ICE COLD went 2-4 and drove in all 6 runs. “That’s baseball Suzyn.”
  • Giancarlo Stanton went 2-4. Stanton sat the night before as Boone played Trent Grisham in that game — and Grisham made a game-saving catch. Again — all of Boone’s moves have been working.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570099

 

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