About Last Night: Big Win... A BIG WIN!

by Paul Semendinger

May 25, 2022

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About Last Night:

Sometimes wins don't come any bigger than the Yankees' 11-inning 7-6 victory last night. The Yankees have been in bad shape the last week with numerous players being injured or on the Covid list, lineups that have replacement-level players for replacement-level players, and an offense that disappeared. In addition, the super bullpen has suddenly become mortal.

Heading into last night's game, the Yankees had lost three consecutive games and four games out of five. After an absolutely amazing start to the season, the Yankees were in their worst slump of the year.

Last night, the Yankees seemed to do what they could to lose, only... somehow, in the end... they won!

Quick Injury Stats:

• 2 - Two Yankees relief pitchers (Luis Gil and Chad Green) are out for the year with Tommy John surgery

• 1 - One Yankee relief pitcher (Aroldis Chapman) is on the IL with Achilles tendinitis

• 2 - Two position players (D.J. LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton) had, or are having MRIs for recent injuries

• 2 - Two position players (Joey Gallo and Josh Donaldson) are on the Covid-19 list

Quick Stats:

• Jordan Montgomery has had four wins blown by the bullpen this year.

• Michael King has allowed runs in three of his last five appearances

• The Yankees used six pitchers last night. Clarke Schmidt gave up a "ghost runner" run in the 11th, but the Yankees came back and he earned the win

• Aaron Hicks had two hits last night (but...)

• Jose Trevino had three hits including the game winner...

Big Story:

This was a game, I think, again, as we've seen often this year, that the 2018-2021 Yankees would have lost. Too much went wrong. Those teams didn't seem to be resilient. They'd hit a rough patch and make it rougher. Those teams didn't seem to have a lot of fight in them.

This year's squad seems entirely different. This team finds ways to win. They come back. Sometimes they come back, as they did last night, again and again.

The Yankees scored single runs in the first, third, and fourth innings to go up 3-0. Against the lowly Orioles (who have a lot of fight in them, but nevertheless) this should have been an easy win. It wasn't. The Orioles got a run in the fifth inning and then four runs (off Michael King who didn't have his stuff again) in the top of the seventh to go up 5-3. This is where past Yankees teams would have folded. Not this team. The Yankees came right back and tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the frame.

The Yankees had a chance to win the game in the 10th inning with a runner on third and less than two outs, but they didn't. The Orioles then scored a run in the top of the 11th. Teams of recent vintage probably would have folded there, but this team battled back and scored two runs in their half of the eleventh inning to secure the victory.

Player(s) of the Game:

Jose Trevino - 3-for-4, 3 runs batted in, game tying single in 7th, game winning single in 11th

Better to Forget:

Aaron Hicks is having a tough time of it. A real tough time. He had two hits last night, BUT...

In the bottom of the 9th, the Yankees had a two-out rally going. Marwin Gonzalez walked. Jose Trevino walked. Aaron Hicks came up needing a single to win the game. The Orioles pitcher, Keegan Akin, had thrown eight of his last nine pitches for balls. Hicks proceeds to swing and miss on three straight pitches to end the inning. This was one of the worst at bats I have seen in a long time.

Then, in the bottom of the 10th, now a "Ghost Runner" (how silly is this?), Aaron Hicks was on third with one out. Estevan Florial was up. He hit a grounder to short with the infield in. The Yankees, who seem so in love with the "contact play" sent Hicks home on what was an easy, easy, super easy and simple out at the plate effectively killing the inning there.

Can we please forget the "contact play" where the Yankees send a runner home from third on contact, even with the infield in? I don't have the stats for this, only my own observations, but this play seems to fail the vast majority of the time and most times, as it was in this situation, it is not even particularly close.

My Take:

Last night's win was huge. It prevented the Yankees from losing their second consecutive series. The Yankees have to do this now with many reserve players and minor league call-ups. The depth of the roster will be tested. Relief pitchers will now be in different roles many higher leverage. How the Yankees perform over the next week or two will help to show what this team really is. When everyone is healthy and good and all is well, they have shown that they can win - a lot. Now we'll see how they do when tested.

They were tested last night and came up with an impressive win. Next Up:

They are back at it tonight. J.P. Sears will make his first ever big league start at 7:05 p.m. in the series finale against the Orioles.