About Yesterday: Rays 3, Yankees 0

By Mike Whiteman 8/27/2023

*** Eighty Five years ago, Yankee righty Monte Pearson threw a no-hitter against Cleveland, the first ever in Yankee Stadium. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA193808272.shtml Pearson, whose curveball was one of the nastier pitches of his time, may have been the best Yankee pitcher you’ve never heard of. He was 63-27 with a 3.82 ERA (117 ERA+) with the Bombers from 1936-40, selected to the American League All-Star game twice, and was 4-0, 1.04 in World Series play for manager Joe McCarthy. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of Game Two of the 1938 Series. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/monte-pearson/

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pearsmo01.shtml

Pearson is in the middle, uniform number 16.

QUICK STATS The Yankees are 62-67 for the season. Their .481 winning percentage translates to 78 wins on the full season. The are in last place in the American League East and are ten games out of the Wild Card. Clarke Schmidt took the loss and is 8-8, 4.51 on the season. The Yankees have scored two or fewer runs 43 times this season. They have won two of those contests. BIG STORY Tyler Glasnow is one of those guys who if he could just stay healthy for a full year, could be really special. His best stretch was from 2019-2022, when he made a total of just 39 starts due to injury and the shortened 2020 season, but was 16-4, 2.75, 151 ERA+ with 300 strikeouts over 213 innings pitched.

His 2023 season started later than hoped, as an oblique injury in Spring Training delayed his first start until late May. He seems to have reached his stride since the All-Star break, and was 4-1, 2.54 since the break coming into yesterday’s game. A hot pitcher against a weak Yankee offense doesn’t bode well, and to no surprise Glasnow yielded only one hit - a single to DJ LeMahieu in the sixth inning - before exiting at the end of the frame. Yankee starter Clarke Schmidt pitched a real nice game of his own, working into the seventh inning and allowing three runs – only one earned thanks to an Isiah Kiner-Falefa throwing error at third base.

The Rays bullpen took over after Glasnow left, with Robert Stephenson, Jason Adam, and Pete Fairbanks all throwing scoreless innings; another DJL single in the ninth was the only blemish on the pen’s work. Rays win, 3-0.

PLAYER OF THE GAME Glasnow looked awfully good, and can he huge for the Rays, especially in light of the team losing ace Shane McLanahan to Tommy John surgery. NOTABLE PERFORMANCES This was the longest outing of Schmidt’s season…LeMahieu is hitting .318 since the All-Star break…Kenyon Middleton threw a scoreless seventh inning and has a 0.75 ERA in Pinstripes since being acquired from the White Sox at the trade deadline BETTER TO FORGET Oswald Peraza and Everson Pereira are batting a combined .111 since their insertion into the starting lineup last week.

The Yanks were shut out for the eighth time this season, the third in August.

THEY SAID IT “He’s got really good stuff. It looks like a strike for a long time, then breaks out of the zone” – Harrison Bader on facing Tyler Glasnow. MY TAKE Not much to say about this one, as it is a script we have seen way too often this season. It is good to see DJL hitting well, which makes me wonder how healthy he really was at the beginning of the season. While his numbers don’t look particularly good for the season, he’s still a useful and versatile player, one who is good to have around. Whatever happens in the offseason, I hope the Yanks hang onto him.

The Rays honored former outfielder Carl Crawford with a place in the team's Hall of Fame before the game. What an exciting player he was during his time in Tampa, when he averaged double figures in doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases while showing really good leather in left field. Congratulations to him. NEXT UP A series win against the Rays would be sweet! Carlos Rodon (1-4, 6.27) takes the mound against Zack Littell (2-4, 4.27) at 1:40.