About Last Night: Yanks Take 2nd From Baltimore, 6-1!

By Andy Singer

July 14th, 2024

The Big Story

This summer is a roller coaster. The Yankees were arguably the best team in baseball over the first two months of the season, though most of us who watched the team on a daily basis knew the team had flaws. Injuries and underperformance combined to make the Yankees one of the worst teams in baseball over the last month of the season. It seemed like a completely farcical idea that this team could pull it together to make anything happen against the Orioles. So, where are we? The Yankees have played two inspired games against a now floundering Orioles roster. In yesterday's win, the Yankees looked...dominant?!?! Oh, and even crazier? The Yankees moved into a tie for the AL East lead, which few would believe if you had watched this team play for the last month.

One of the keys to yesterday's game was the Yankees' fast start. Yankee lead-off hitters not named Ben Rice have struggled mightily recently, but Alex Verdugo led off the game with a single to right field. He was thrown out at 2nd base on a fielder's choice, but he did his job, and by the time Ben Rice came to the plate, the Yanks had Judge and Soto on-base. Judge and Soto moved up to 2nd and 3rd on a wild pitch from Rodriguez, while Rice continued his mini-slump with a strikeout, his first of three on the day. Rather than waste the inning though, Gleyber followed with a single up the middle on a sweet short swing, scoring Soto from 3rd. Wells then worked a truly impressive at-bat against a pitcher with tough stuff. Wells worked a 9-pitch at-bat with two outs, fouling of 5 balls to stay alive. His 6th swing of the at-bat might have been the most important swing any Yankee has taken all season:

For once, it was the Yankees who got a hot start to a game, and they handed Luis Gil a 4-0 lead before he threw a pitch. That's a cushion that really helps a pitcher's mental game against a team whose lineup is as good as the Orioles. While Gil didn't have his best command, control, or pitch mix in the first inning, he bent, but didn't break. Gil pitched to contact and worked his way out of danger in the first inning. After that, it was an impressive performance from Gil. Gil found his strikeout touch in the 2nd inning, and really never looked back besides a run stemming from a lead-off triple in the 4th inning. Gil leaned harder on his slider than he has all season long, throwing the pitch on 39(!) percent of pitches. Probably due to that, Gil's command wasn't in peak form, but his stuff was good enough to force a tough lineup to whiff on 33% of swings against him. It was a gutsy, necessary performance from Gil.

Even the bullpen was great. Tim Hill again pitched to contact effectively for 2 innings, while Jake Cousins threw a scoreless inning of his own.

The cherry on top of this one for the Yankees? Soto and Judge put an exclamation mark on the score in the 5th inning with back-to-back solo homers. It was just the 2nd time that's happened this season.

Notable Performances

Soto: 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K

Judge: 2-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K

Torres: 3-4, 1 RBI, 1 K

Wells: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K

Gil: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 ER, 95 Pitches

The Bullpen: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 ER

Better To Forget

Volpe: 0-4, 1 K

Rice: 0-4, 3 K, 1 BB

DJLM: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

My Take

What a game; what a series. The Yankees really showed fight and guile yesterday. For the first time in weeks, the Yankees have played with urgency and fire. Game 1 of this series was a hard-fought game that ended with a near-melee after Holmes accidentally beaned Heston Kjerstad on Friday night. Both teams got fired up, and emotions spilled over onto the field.

You never, ever want to see someone get hit in the head; it was terrifying to see. However, the ensuing arguing and fighting sure seems to have lit a charge into this team. The Yankees needed something to break their malaise, and it didn't seem as though the coaching staff was doing it. Friday night sure seems to have woken this team back up. Let's hope they keep it up.

Looking To Today

The Yanks will try to take the sweep at 11:35 AM against the O's. The game is on...Roku. Sigh.