Seth Lugo Stymies Yankees. KC 5 NY 0

September 11, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Gleyber Torres applies tag on Salvador Perez and he is OUT (on the challenge) via a throw in from Jasson "The Martian" Dominguez.

Once upon a time the Mets had Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, and Marcus Stroman in the same rotation, with Seth Lugo in long relief out of the bullpen. All were homegrown except for Stroman. The year was 2019 and the year before that add Matt Harvey to that homegrown group.

Five years later and:

  • Zack Wheeler (currently 14-6 2.59) is one of the best pitchers in the National League,
  • Seth Lugo is one of the best pitchers in the American League,
  • deGrom at the time was one of the best pitchers in baseball in process of winning his 2nd straight Cy Young Award, but then blew out his arm,
  • Harvey blew out his arm,
  • Syndergaard blew out his arm,
  • Matz had arm issues, and
  • Stroman is with the Yanks.

And so it was on this beautiful Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium that Lugo faced Stroman. Stroman provided a decent, near quality start (5.1 innings, 3 runs) — and Lugo showed why he is one of the best pitchers in the AL — 7 innings of 3 hit, shutout baseball striking out 10 and walking nobody to go 16-8 2.94.

“That was probably as good a performance against us this year,” said manager Aaron Boone about Lugo. “We were silent. He was ahead in the count, he was really dotting it location wise with a big mix: it’s 2 fastballs, it’s cutter, it’s slider, it’s curveball, it’s change and varied the speed on all of of those. And then got a lead;  ahead in the count; not making a lot of mistakes; was off our barrel, and had some swing and miss in there too.”

NY falls to 83-62, and their lead in 1st place in the AL East over Baltimore drops to .5 game. KC improves to 80-66.

1. Stroman Pitched Ok

Marcus Stroman pitched OK — 5.1 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 runs; 2 outs away from what is considered a “quality start” (6 innings, 3 runs).

Stroman worked around 2 singles in the 1st, and a walk in the 2nd (getting a double play), but was nicked for 2 runs in the 3rd on a leadoff single by Kyle Isbel, an RBI single by Bobby Witt Jr.that scored Isbel (who had moved to 2nd on a groundout), and an RBI single by Salvador Perez, who was thrown out trying to turn the single into a double by Jasson Dominguez (called safe initially but the Yanks won the challenge).

Stroman pitched a shutout 4th but it was deja vu all over again in the 5th — a leadoff single by Isbel, who moved to 2nd on a groundout, and then scored on a 2-out single by Salvador Perez.

Stroman left after a 1-out walk in the 6th, and Mark Leiter Jr.came in to get the last 2 outs — although he created some agita by allowing a single to put runners on 1st and 2nd before striking out Isbel.

2. Lugo Shutdown the Yanks

What Stroman did would not have mattered on this night. After allowing a single to Gleyber Torres to start the game, Lugo retired the next 17 batters in a row, before a 2-out single by … Gleyber Torres in the bottom of the 6th. By that time the Yanks were down 3-0, and Juan Soto gave the Yanks their one semi-thrill when he hit a high fly to opposite-field left — but it was caught in the warning track.

Lugo used an assortment of slow-speed pitches — his four-seam fastball only hitting 90-94 MPH. But the cutter, the sweeper, the slurve, the changeup, and the curve confounded Yankee hitters.

By the bottom of the 7th Lugo was ahead 4-0, and allowed but a 1-out single to Austin Wells before getting a flyout and strikeout to end his outing.

3. Leiter Coughs Up Run

After getting those last 2 outs of the 6th in relief of Stroman, Mark Leiter Jr.coughed up the homer ball again — a leadoff solo shot to Tommy Pham leading off the 7th and it was 4-0 KC.

4. KC Steals Run Off Mayza

Tim Mayza came in for the top of the 8th, and allowed a leadoff single to Hunter Renfroe. Dairon Blanco came in as a pinch runner and promptly stole 2nd, stole 3rd, and scored on a sac fly by 3rd baseman Maikel Garcia.

A 2nd of only 2 highlights of the game came when Paul DeJong singled and tried to steal 2nd, but Austin Wells threw him out in a strike-out-throw-’em-out doubleplay. It was the 3rd runner Wells had thrown out in 2 nights.

5. KC Bullpen Throws 2 Shutout Innings

Down 5-0, the Yanks faced Kris Bubic out of the KC bullpen in the bottom of the 8th — and he pitched a 1-2-3 inning striking out the last 2 batters.

John Schreiber pitched the 9th for KC — and also threw down a 1-2-3 inning — strike out, strike out, and fly out by Aaron Judge for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570638

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*