About Last Night: NYY 5, WSH 2

By Ethan Semendinger

August 27th, 2024

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Aaron Judge didn't hit a home run last night, but he did amaze- as always. As did Nestor Cortes, and the team, all-around and throughout the game!

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Quick Stats -

• Winning Pitcher: Nestor Cortes (8-10, 3.89 ERA)

• Losing Pitcher: Mitchell Parker (7-8, 4.26 ERA)

• Save: Clay Holmes (28)

• Home Runs (New York): Gleyber Torres (12), Austin Wells (10), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (21)

• Home Runs (Washington): Juan Yepez (5), Jacob Young (3)

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Big Story - This past weekend I took a trip to Atlanta, Georgia and was fortunate to attend the Saturday game at Truist Park between the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals.

To be honest, it never even clicked in my head that I was doing some preliminary scouting on who the Yankees opponent would be for their latest series. It was a spur of the moment trip for me, and since the Braves were in town, I couldn't not go to a ballgame.

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you'll hear plenty more about this trip (and some others from this summer) during the offseason. I have some great ideas for posts, but I don't want to distract from this good stretch the Yankees have been on recently.

Speaking of, that's enough about me for a site dedicated to talking about the Bronx Bombers. This past weekend they took a series against the Colorado Rockies, and ended it with a BANG-BANG-BANG between Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton going back-to-back-to-back.

Now in the nation's capital and set to try and continue the good play, here was the line-up for the Yankees as they were set to begin a three-game series.:

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Player(s) of the Game -

• Anthony Volpe: 3-4. 2 Runs, Double, SB

• Nestor Cortes: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB's, 5 K's, Win!

Notable Performances -

• Clay Holmes: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB's, 0 K's, Save

• Gleyber Torres: 2-5, Run, Home Run, 1 RBI, 1 K

• Aaron Judge: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1000th Career Hit, Home Run Robbery in CF

• Austin Wells: 1-3, Run, Home Run, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K's

• Jazz Chisolm: 1-4, Run, Home Run, 1 RBI, 0 BB's, 1 K

• DJ LeMahieu: 1-2, 2 RBI's, 2 Sac Flies

• Alex Verdugo: 3-4

Better to Forget -

• Juan Soto: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K

• Giancarlo Stanton: 0-5, 1 K

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The Game - Instead of just going inning by inning and telling you all what happened in last nights game, I'm going to showcase it, chronologically, through a series of tweets and explain from there. Keep in mind, this will mean I will be glossing over parts of the game. If you want a full recap of every play from the game last night, check out the MLB Gameday summary: here.

Tweet One:

To long time readers of the blog- and specifically my posts- you would know that I am extremely hard on Gleyber Torres. However, I will also acknowledge where I may be (or am) mistaken. At least recently, Gleyber Torres has been on a hot streak, and having him as the lead-off hitter has been working. Though he has a 90 OPS+ entering the game, he has had his best month in August with a 108 OPS+. The Yankees need their lead-off hitter to get hits in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, and Gleyber is doing that well right now.

The Yankees took a quick 1-0 lead off a Gleyber Torres solo home run to start the game!

Tweet Two:

Speaking of players who have not been having great contract years, Alex Verdugo made an amazing catch here. Recently, it came out that Verdugo has been allergic to both his batting gloves and the ink in his tattoos (the later of which gave me flashbacks to Aroldis Chapman), but there is hope. In the Colorado series- small sample size data incoming- Verdugo hit well: .429/.500/.857. In no way would I expect that to continue, but, it could be a good sign to come. (He also went 3-4 in last night's game.) I believe he is better than an 82 OPS+ hitter, and if he can get back to league average again, and with a possible hot streak from Gleyber Torres being here- the Yankees offense could be powerful again as it was in March through May.

In the second inning, this play from Alex Verdugo began a series of great plays (another to be showcased in a bit) that allowed the Yankees to hold on to their early lead. Nestor Cortes was getting hit, but the Yankees defense was making all the plays to keep the Nationals' offense from producing. Some examples: Judge with a deep catch in CF (2nd inning), Volpe on a line-drive (3rd), Wells with a throwing out a runner at second (5th)

Tweet Three:

Aaron Judge did not hit a home run last night- though Torres, Wells, and Chisholm did- but he did take away a home run from Jose Tena. There had been some discussion online about how Bobby Witt Jr. was making a case for the AL MVP, but this catch- along with Judge hitting 6 home runs in 6 games- has put that to rest. He is the AL MVP again in 2024. No question about it.

This play really saved Nestor Cortes' bacon. The Yankees grabbed an insurance run via a DJ LeMahieu sac fly to score Anthony Volpe, and this home run robbery ended up getting two outs as James Wood could not return to first in time to beat Judge's throw. Aaron Judge is unreal. And, he made his first major TV appearance yesterday morning as a cartoon in a Paw Patrol spin-off show. He really can do anything.

Tweet Four:

I think I have now covered Nestor Cortes' last three starts, and even I was surprised to see that he had a 20.1 inning scoreless streak going. Like Torres and Verdugo, Cortes has been getting better recently too, and though this streak came to an end, Cortes still pitched great to earn himself another victory and to bring his season ERA back under 4.00.

Nestor Cortes lost his scoreless innings streak in the 7th inning, after giving up a solo home run to Juan Yepez. He nearly lost the streak before 20 innings in the 6th inning, but he gave a gutsy effort and stranded the bases loaded in an inning that included a lead-off single, double, back-to-back strikeouts, a walk, and an inning ending third strikeout. Meanwhile, the Yankees added more insurance runs via an Austin Wells home run and another DJ LeMahieu sacrifice fly (again scoring Volpe).

Final Tweet:

And, it's back to Aaron Judge we go. On a night where he robbed a home run, and didn't hit one himself (may as well DFA him if he's not hitting a daily home run), he still has a memorable moment by collecting his 1,000th career hit. By the time he had 1,000 career hits, Judge had already passed 50 bWAR (he was at 49.8 fWAR), 300 home runs, and was nearly at 700 walks (694) in his career. Wow.

The Yankees added one more run via a Jazz Chisholm solo home run in the 8th, and the Nationals matched it with a Jacob Young solo home run in the bottom half of the inning, but this game was all but over. Clay Holmes came in and pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning (maybe he can turn it around, too?) and the Yankees secured their 78th win on the year.

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Around baseball, the Chicago Cubs put another reliever on waivers in a cost-cutting move by their owner in a (likely) failed season in the Windy City. Releiver Hector Neris was released just over a week ago and has already found a home (again) in Houston. Now, Drew Smyly is available.

On the year, he has pitched 50.2 innings in relief to a 2.84 ERA and a 146 ERA+. The Yankees should be calling him yesterday to add him to the bullpen. A clean swap of left-handed relievers in Smyly for Tim Mayza would be a big upgrade for a major Yankees weakness. And, as a former starter, he could also (likely) give the Yankees some real relief by being an innings eater if a starter isn't "on" that day.

DO IT, Yankees. NOW.

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Next Up - Tonight, the Yankees (78-54) will play game two of three in Washington DC against the Washington Nationals (59-73). The Yankees will be sending Gerrit Cole (5-2, 3.72 ERA), who is coming off a great game, to face off against a player who- at one point- was thought to be a future Yankee in Patrick Corbin (3-12, 5.73 ERA). The game will be on the YES Network starting at 6:45 PM.

P.S.: The Yankees 6-9 hitters (Volpe, Chisholm, LeMahieu, and Verdugo) last night went a combined 8-14 with a Double, Home Run, 3 Runs Scored, 3 RBI's, 2 Sacrifice Flies, and only 1 strikeout. They were the unsung heroes of the game after the offense had been almost exclusively Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in recent games. When neither of them did much, the rest of the team stepped-up. THIS is what we need to see more of!