Yankee Bats Pound Twins Again; Soto Leaves with Forearm Strain. NY 8 Minnesota 5

June 7, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

The relentless Yankee bats pounded the Twins again for an 8-5 win on a Thursday night in the Bronx, but all was not well in Yankee Universe as Juan Soto did not return to the game after a rain delay in the 6th due to ‘left forearm tightness’ that he revealed he had been experiencing for several weeks.

The tightness is not something affecting his throwing or hitting or any baseball activities, he said, and it came out of nowhere when he woke up one morning — but to be careful the Yanks kept him off the wet outfield grass after the delay and will have imaging done.

Despite the Yankees winning their 8th in a row, Soto’s minor injury was all that Yankee fans on Twitter could talk about after the game.

The other disturbance in the force of the Yankee Universe was Marcus Stroman not being able to get the last out of the 5th inning and leaving without a chance to get a win. Stroman was not at his best, allowing 5 runs in 4.2 innings. Instead Luke Weaver was awarded the win by the Official Scorer, as he pitched the most innings of any Yank reliever with 1.1 innings of shutout ball.

“It was a tough one for sure,” said Stroman afterwards. “Just feel like my feel was off; struggling to get a grip a little bit. They put together some good AB’s. I didn’t execute when I needed to. Luckily we were able to keep the game where it’s at and like I said the offense has been incredible. The bullpen was incredible as well. Hammy (Ian Hamilton) coming in after me; Weaver has been shut-down all year, and I think Clay (Holmes) is the best closer in baseball. Those guys are incredible.”

NY improves to 45-19 and is now 4.5 games ahead of Baltimore. Minnesota gets swept in the 3-game series and is now 33-29.

1. Yanks Jump All Over Lopez

Pablo Lopez started for the Twins. Minnesota acquired him from Miami for Luis Arraez before last season to be their Ace, and he responded by becoming that, going 11-8 3.66 with 234 strikeouts in 194 innings.

This year he has not fared well, coming into the game 5-5 4.84. By the end of the night he’d be 5-6 5.45.

Lopez had control problems. He pitched around 2 walks in the 1st inning, then hit Austin Wells in the 2nd before Trent Grisham hit a 384-foot homer to right center off him for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Grisham had not played in a while — the former starting centerfielder has been reduced to a seldom-seen reserve for the vaunted Yankee outfield. Manager Aaron Boone rested Alex Verdugo in this game just so Grisham could get a chance to play and Grisham responded.

Minnesota tied the score 2-2 against Stroman but the Yanks came right back against Lopez in the bottom of the 3rd, as Lopez walked Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton to load the bases with nobody out, and then after Anthony Rizzo struck out, Gleyber Torres ripped a 2-RBI double down the opposite right-field line for a 4-2 NY lead.

Austin Wells hit a sac fly to make it 5-3 NY.

2. Volpe SPEED Gets Yanks Another Run

The Yanks seemed to put the game away in the 4th with more runs. Anthony Volpe got on with an infield single, moved to 2nd on a walk to Aaron Judge by Lopez. Volpe then stole 3rd base, and scampered home as the throw went into left field.

Giancarlo Stanton drove in Judge with an infield single that bounded off the shortstop’s glove, and it was 7-2 NY.

3. Stroman Not at His Best

But Marcus Stroman was not at his best and couldn’t close the deal in the 5th to get a win despite entering with a 7-2 lead.

Stroman had allowed a solo homer in the top of the 1st to Carlos Correa, and a solo homer to Vasquez in the 3rd to tie the game 2-2. In between he allowed traffic on the basepaths: a double in the 2nd, and a hit-by-pitch and single in the 4th that he worked out of with foul pop out, fly out, and pop out.

Leading 7-2 in the top of the 5th he allowed a leadoff walk, double to Kirilloff, and sac fly to Correa to make it 7-3. He then allowed a grounds-rule double to Kepler to make it 7-4, and after getting a ground out, hit Miranda with a pitch to put 1st and 2nd, 2 outs.

Boone pulled him at 78 pitches.

Ian Hamilton came in and allowed an RBI single to Carlos Santana to make it 7-5, before getting the final out.

4. Soto Does Not Return After Delay

The rains came in the top of the 6th after Victor Gonzalez had gotten the first 2 outs. After the 45 minute delay, Juan Soto was not on the field and the Yankees tweeted he was removed due to left forearm tightness. And that is all anyone could talk about on Twitter the rest of the game.

“It’s funny that it doesn’t hurt me whenever I throw or hitting, it’s more like soreness that I feel with any kind of move that I make with my arm,” said Soto afterwards. “But definitely does not stop me with anything baseball wise in the field. We all decided that to not start getting in the game after an hour sitting down, starting getting hot again, warming it up, we didn’t want to risk anything like that.

“I just woke up one day, felt the tightness and the discomfort in my forearm, and we’ve been working on it, and we’ve been trying to get away with it but it hasn’t gone away, added Soto.”

5. Weaver Gets the Win

Luke Weaver was on the mound after the rain delay — he got the final out of the 6th and pitched a shutout 7th to get the win. He is now 4-1 2.61.

6. Volpe’s D Helps Kahnle

Tommy Kahnle pitched the top of the 8th in an 8-5 game. He allowed a 1-out walk and then a single, but got a strikeout and a grounder in the hole between short and 3rd that Anthony Volpe made a tremendous play on to end the inning.

7. Holmes Closes It

Clay Holmes pitched the 9th — he threw a NASTY sinker and got strikeout, single, fly out, and ground out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569413

 

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