About Last Night: Yankees 6 - Orioles 2

By Cary Greene

May 17, 2022

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Quick Stats:

● Winning Pitcher: Luis Severino 3-0

● Losing Pitcher: Kyle Bradish 1-2

● Yankee Home Runs: Jose Trevino (1, 1st of season, 3-run 93.8 mph 349 ft home run to right field off Bradish, scoring Torres and Kiner-Falefa – it was the first home run by a Yankee catcher this season); Josh Donaldson (1, 5th of season, 1-run home run off Bautista, 102.7mph, 395ft to right field); Anthony Rizzo (1, 10th of season, 1-run home run, 106.5 mph 406 ft to right field)

Who’s Hot?

○ The scorching Giancarlo Stanton, who only had one hit last night, is now hitting .362 over his last 18 games, with 8 Home Runs and 23 RBI’s.

○ Don’t look now but Josh Donaldson is suddenly coming to life and is hitting .381 in his last five games.

Who’s Not?

○ It’s been a Brutal last 14 games now for the slumping Aaron Hicks, who is now hitting .100 over this span, with 13 strikeouts. He did manage a single off Kyle Bradish in the 4th inning last night, which actually raised his average (from .083).

Big Story

After Sunday’s series clinching 5-1 win against the White Sox in Chicago, the Yankees rolled into Baltimore to take on the Orioles at Camden Yards. Luis Severino started against Baltimore’s impressive rookie, Kyle Bradish. Bradish, who was coming off a historic outing last Tuesday against the Cardinals in which he became one of only three MLB pitchers ever who, within their first three starts, were able to record 11 strikeouts without issuing a walk.

Bradish started impressively, flashing a four-seam fastball with a lot of run to it as he struck out DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo all looking, despite loading the bases on two walks and an infield hit. Not to be outdone, Luis Severino worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the bottom of the first, aided by a slick double play started by Gleyber Torres, who made a diving grab on an Anthony Santander liner.

Bradish worked a 6-pitch 1-2-3 top of the second inning and Severino hopped back out on the mound faster than Yankee fans could blink - only to respond with an equally fast 1-2-3 inning of his own and it was game-on! The Yankees got on the board in the top of third inning when Giancarlo Stanton cracked a 114.2 mph double that rattled around in left-center-field and allowed Anthony Rizzo to score from first base.

In the top of the fourth inning, Jose Trevino hit his first Yankee home run, an opposite field 93.8 mph, hooking 348 foot-jack that was just inside the right field foul pole, which came on an extremely high fastball from Bradish. As noted above, this was the first home run by a Yankee catcher this season! Imagine that?

In the bottom of the fourth, the Orioles Anthony Santander, who was batting left-handed, hit a 101.5 mph, 378 home-run to right field off Severino and the Yankee lead was cut to 4-1. The Yankees responded in the top of ninth inning when Josh Donaldson and Anthony Rizzo went back to back, and “belly to belly” each hitting solo home runs to increase the Yankee lead to 6-1.

Aroldis Chapman gave up a home run to Anthony Santander, who was hitting right-handed against him. It was a 105.1 mph, 388 foot home run down the left field line, which made the final score Yankees 6, Orioles 2.

Player of the Game

● Jose Trevino hit a big 3-run home run in the fourth inning that gave the Yankees some early separation and put some pressure on the Orioles promising, young 6’4” righty Kyle Bradish. Trevino went 2-4 and caught another very solid overall defensive game.

Notable Performances:

● Luis Severino responded inning after inning at one point, he had retired 9 in a row from the bottom of the fourth to the bottom of the sixth inning. All told, he threw 95 pitches, 57.9% of which were strikes. His four-pitch mix consisted of 52% 4-Seam Fastballs, 22% Change-Ups, 13% Sliders and 13% Cutters.

● Josh Donaldson responded nicely to batting second in the lineup, going 3-4 with a walk.

● Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a much needed scoreless 7th inning, aided by a double play to erase Rougned Odor, who had singled previously.

Better to Forget:

● Joey Gallo struck out 4 times on the way to an 0-5 night and also made an error in left field in the bottom of the first inning that allowed Cedric Mullins to make it all the way to third base.

● DJ LeMahieu was 0-4 with three strike-outs from the leadoff position in the Yankee lineup.

My Take - The one thing that jumped out was the way the Yankees hustled to first base throughout the game and no matter what the situation was. Gleyber Torres, Josh Donaldson and Jose Trevino were each running plays out at full tilt and this was refreshing to see. In fact, it made the game downright enjoyable for me as I watched, because one of my pet peeves is when good teams don’t play the game the right way. Perhaps the team came out with a focus that quite frankly has been missing at times this year.

As the great Casey Stengel once said, “If we’re going to win the pennant, we’ve got to start thinking we’re not as good as we think we are!” Aaron Boone hopefully can instill this kind of thinking for the Yankees as they roll into through May and into June.

Gleyber Torres made a fine diving catch on the double-play liner that I noted earlier and Josh Donaldson continued to sparkle defensively at third base - he made a superb charging play in the hole, getting Rylan Bannon by half a step, which Anthony Rizzo made a beautiful scoop on.

Beyond the welcome display of hustle, Yankee pitching was really the difference in the game. Severino refused to cave in during the first inning and again held the fort in the fourth inning - in both of these innings the Orioles had opportunities to come away with a few runs and had they done that, the game would have been much tighter than it was.

Coupled with the fine Yankee pitching, the Yankees continued to pour it on offensively and the end result was excellent run support for strong pitching, always a winning combination and, considering the three-run home run by Trevino, it was a win Earl Weaver, who’s Orioles teams were famous for using three-run home runs to back stout pitching, would have appreciated.

Next Up - The Orioles host the Yankees Tuesday night at 7:05 pm in the second game of the four-game series, starting righty Spenser Watkins (0-1, 5.19 ERA) who the Yankees will oppose with Jameson Taillon (3-1, 2.93 ERA). Skies will be partly cloudy and it will be a balmy 75 degrees to start the game.