Boone Does Good! Aaron Judge, Yanks Rip Manoah. NY 7 Toronto 4

May 16, 2023 paperbacklou 2023, Blue 0

On game day, manager Aaron Boone — castigated recently for relief pitching decisions that have backfired — replaced struggling scheduled starter Jhony Brito with reliever Jimmy Cordero to face the vaunted Toronto Blue Jays roster — and it worked like a charm!

Cordero ‘opened’ the game with 2 shutout innings, and then Brito came in in relief to pitch the longest stint in his major league career: 5.1 innings, shutting out the Blue Jays into the 8th!

Meanwhile Aaron Judge and the Yankee lineup Ripped Toronto ace Alek Manoah — who has been struggling this year. Judge and Willie Calhoun hit homers in the top of the 1st inning to make it 3-0; the Yanks made it 5-0 in the 4th, and chased Manoah in the 5th.

Later, in the 8th, Aaron Boone put on a show tearing into the home plate ump about the low strikes being called on Aaron Judge. Boone got tossed, and 3 pitches later Judge hit a bomb to center. Boone was the hero of Yankee Twitter for the evening. (PS: Judge walked 3 times on the day too.)

NY was up 7-0 when Toronto scored 4 runs in the 8th — due largely to infield singles and misplays. But Michael King shut the door for the win.

“For Jimmy to set us up and go through those first 6 hitters — mostly tough right handed hitters — was huge,” said manager Boone afterwards. “And that put us in a good spot for Jhony, and he came in and threw the ball Really well — was efficient; I thought he did a great job using all 3 pitches — he incorporated his breaking ball enough to have a presence with it. Just a really good job by those two guys.”

NY improves to 24-19; Toronto falls to 24-17. NY is 7.5 behind Tampa.

1. Yanks Jump on Top with Judge & Cordero Homers

Alek Manoah is struggling this year — coming into the game with a 1-3 4.83 record — and leaving with a 1-4 5.40 record.

A Blue Jay fan provided some analysis on Twitter — observing that Manoah’s fastball velocity is down over the last few years, and his slider does not have the same bite.

Aaron Judge got to Manoah right away with 1 out in the top of the 1st with a 375-foot homer to opposite field right center for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

One out later, Gleyber Torres singled and Willie Calhoun unloaded to right for a 3-0 NY lead.

2. Cordero “Opens” Well

Then Jimmy Cordero took the hill to start the game for NY — and was lights out: groundout, groundout, fly out in the 1st, then lineout, lineout, groundout in the 2nd.

3. Yanks Chase Manoah in 5th

Meanwhile Manoah was struggling — he got thru the 2nd and 3rd allowing 2 walks and a single, but in the 4th the Yanks pounced again — leadoff double by Anthony Volpe, a walk to Oswaldo Cabrera and RBI single by Kyle Higashioka and it was 4-0.

Aaron Hicks walked to load the bases, and Manoah walked Aaron Judge on a 3-2 pitch to force in a run and make it 5-0.

Manoah got a double play to end the inning but two more walks to lead off the 5th and he was gone.

4. Brito Terrific

Meanwhile Jhony Brito came in for relief in the 3rd, and stayed into the 8th — shutting down the Toronto lineup with lots of ground-ball outs, including 2 double plays.

5. Rizzo = Player of the Week

Anthony Rizzo — named American League Player of the Week before the game — ripped an RBI double in the 6th for a 6-0 NY lead.

6. Boone Tossed, Judge BOMB, & Controversy

In the 8th, Judge took a low pitch called a strike 2 and manager Aaron Boone erupted from the dugout. Judge has had pitches thrown below his knee called strikes throughout his career and Boone has many times gone ballistic on the umps — and this was one of those evenings.

Yankee Twitter was giving Boone his due as an elite umpire arguer — and the velocity with which Boone threw his gum became a thing on Twitter — even making Pitching Ninja the next morning.

After Boone was tossed, Judge got 2 balls and then hit a BOMB to center for a 7-0 Yankee lead.

Some controversy was raised when just before the homer, the Toronto Blue Jays broadcast team saw Judge’s eyes look over to the Yankee dugout — and they speculated he might be stealing signs from the catcher (although his eyes weren’t looking down at the catcher).

Judge explained afterwards he was taking a quick look at the Yankee dugout to see who was still ‘chirping’ complaints to the ump, which he thought needed to be squashed. As captain, he took care of it afterwards, he said.

6. Toronto Gets to Hamilton

A double by Matt Chapman leading off the 8th, then an RBI single by Whit Merrifield made it 7-1 NY. An error by Gleyber Torres on a double play ball put 2 runners on. Brito got a groundout but then an infield single loaded the bases and sent him to the showers.

Ian Hamilton came in and allowed a groundout for a run, then a single for another run, then a double for another — and it was a 7-4 game, with 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs, and the tying run at the plate.

7. King the Save

But Michael King came in and got Daulton Varsho to groundout to 1st to end the threat in the 8th, and then pitched a 1-2-3 9th — 3 consecutive ground outs — for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471637

 

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