About Last Night: YANKS WIN!

by Paul Semendinger

May 3, 2023

*** About Last Night - The Yankees, at least at this point, must win the games that Gerrit Cole starts. They were 6-0 in Cole's starts heading into last night. After the game, they're now 7-0. The Yankees came back from a 2-0 deficit to prevail 4-2. The last few innings were particularly fun.

Quick Stats -

Winning Pitcher - Wandy Peralta

Save - Michael King

Losing Pitcher - James Karinchak

Yankees Homers By - Anthony Volpe (3), Willie Calhoun (1)

Big Story -

The Yankees offense (finally) in the later innings did what it needed to do.

Down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th, Anthony Volpe homered to make the score 2-1. Then the Yankees put together a double by Gleyber Torres and a single from Anthony Rizzo to tie the game at 2-2.

The Yankees scored a run in the seventh inning on Willie Calhoun's first homer as a Bronx Bomber. That gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

In the eighth inning, Anthony Volpe singled. He then stole second base. He then stole third base. He scored the Yankees' fourth run on a two-out D.J. LeMahieu single.

Player(s) of the Game -

Anthony Volpe. He homered to get the Yankees on the scoreboard. His hit and two stolen bases in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Yankees a needed insurance run.

Gerrit Cole battled and kept the Yankees in the game. He gave up two runs over six innings and struck out eight. The bullpen did not allow a run over the final three innings.

Notable Performances -

Harrison Bader returned to the lineup and made a pretty nice play in the outfield. He also recorded his first hit of the year.

Anthony Rizzo had two hits.

Better to Forget -

Aaron Hicks went 0-for-3 and is hitting .146 on the season. Worse, he is slugging .146.

My Take -

I'm not sold on the 2023 Yankees, but last night's game was fun. The final innings saw them score runs in a variety of ways. The pitching was excellent. Gerrit Cole has been the team's MVP this year - by far. The Yankees are 16-15 on the year, but are 9-15 in games Gerrit Cole doesn't pitch.

The Yankees are 3-2 against Cleveland this year. With the silly new schedule this year, tomorrow will be the last time these two teams square off in 2023.

The Yankees need to show resilience and win games like this. They had bad losses on Sunday and Monday. This was a good bounce-back win.

Next Up -

Clarke Schmidt, who has been the complete opposite of Gerrit Cole this year, takes the mound tonight against Cleveland. The Yankees are 1-5 in games Schmidt starts.

Game time is 7:05 p.m.