Gerrit Cole & Yank Offense Get It Done. NY 8 Texas 4

September 3, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

Gerrit Cole pitched 6 innings of 4-hit, 1-run baseball, striking out 9 and walking 1, and the Yankee offense provided 8 runs, mostly on singles and doubles and then an insurance bomb from Giancarlo Stanton in the 8th — to beat the Rangers in Texas on a Monday night.

Gleyber Torres had a day — 3 hits and a tremendous defensive play to end the game.

The win ended a 2-game losing streak, and kept the Yanks in 1st place by .5 game over Baltimore.

The Yankees beat Jack Leiter, Al Leiter‘s son and phenom who was the #2 pick in the 2021 draft. Cole left in the 7th when his calf cramped while warming up.

“My calf started cramping on the finish; I tried a couple of things to get it to stop and it just didn’t stop,” said Cole about his cramped calf which sent worries through Yankee universe. “I wasn’t super concerned I just didn’t think it was the right situation to keep trying to manipulate it out there. I had a similar situation last year against the Dodgers and I was able to manage it for a couple of innings until it was too much. I jogged out there and didn’t feel it; I don’t feel it walking.”

NY improves to 80-58, in 1st by .5 over Baltimore and with the best record in the American League. Texas drops to 65-73.

1. Cole Terrific

Gerrit Cole was his terrific self, shutting down Texas with his blazing 98-MPH heater, his knuckle curve, and his assortment of other pitches.

Staked to a 2-0 lead in the 3rd, Cole allowed his only run in the bottom of the 3rd — a leadoff single to centerfielder Leody Taveras, and a 2-out double to centerfield by 3rd baseman Josh Smith that Taveras scored on by surprising the Yanks — going full blast from 1st base, and tearing around the bases.

Cole allowed a leadoff single in the 4th, but then retired 9 batters in a row, including a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th and 6th.

He started to take warmup pitches in the 7th, by that time leading 7-1 — but then tweaked his calf — and called for the trainer to come out. He left the game with a slash line of 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 9 K’s, 1 walk. He wins to go 6-3 3.65.

2. Gleyber Puts NY on Top 2-0 in 3rd

Meanwhile the Yanks were up against Jack Leiter, the 24 -year-old phenom with the 99 MPH fastball and wicked slider.

Gleyber Torres led off the game for the Yanks with a single against Jack Leiter — but was erased on a Juan Soto double play.

Leiter then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd, but NY got to him in the 3rd with a 1-out single by Anthony Volpe, an infield single by Alex Verdugo, and a double by Gleyber Torres scoring both runners.

3. Yanks Get to Leiter 3rd Time Around in 6th

Leiter settled down and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th and 5th, but the Yanks got to him again the 3rd time through the order in the 6th.

Gleyber Torres led off with a single — his 3rd hit of the game. Juan Soto followed with a single, and Aaron Judge doubled in Gleyber. NY 3 Texas 1.

That knocked Leiter out — 36-year-old righty Chase Anderson came in to pitch and hit Austin Wells on the wrist with a pitch to load the bases. Anderson struck out Giancarlo Stanton, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled in a run to make it 4-1 NY.

And then Anthony Rizzo hit a ground-rule double to right, scoring 2 runs to make it 6-1 NY.

Jazz Chisholm scored on a wild pitch by Anderson and it was 7-1 NY.

4. Weaver Allows Runs

Luke Weaver emergency-relieved Cole in the bottom of the 7th after Cole tweaked his calf in warmups — and he wasn’t ready. He allowed a leadoff single to Jung, and homer to Langford and it was a 7-3 game — before getting the next 3 batters in a row — strikeout, foul out, fly out.

5. Giancarlo Insurance HR

Anderson kept the Yanks at bay in the 7th, but in the 8th, Giancarlo Stanton led off with a 418-foot homer to center for an 8-3 Yankee lead.

6. Hill Good; Holmes Finishes

Tim Hill pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 8th, and got the first out of the 9th before yielding a single to Josh Jung and yielding to Clay Holmes in an 8-3 game.

Holmes immediately allowed a ground-rule double to leftfielder Wyatt Langford and here we go again — runners on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out, in an 8-3 game.

Holmes got catcher Jonah Heim to ground out — scoring a run and make it 8-4, but then walked Leody Taveras — putting 1st and 3rd and the tying run on deck.

Finally Holmes got the final out — a sharp grounder up the middle by Marcus Semien that Gleyber Torres made a sparkling play on for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570537

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