About Yesterday: Yankees Sweep Guardians!

By Mike Whiteman April 14, 2024 On this day in 1955, after being accused of long dragging their feet, the Yankees added their first African-American player to the roster. Elston Howard went on to become a beloved Yankee, making nine All-Star games and taking home the 1963 American League MVP award. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/howarel01.shtml https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Elston-Howard/ Happy Birthday to David Justice, one of the best in-season trade pickups in team history. Justice's half-season's work in 2000 was likely the difference maker between the Yankees missing the playoffs and winning a third World Series in a row. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/justida01.shtml

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/david-justice/

Quick stats: The Yankees are 12-3 on the season, the seventh time in team history that they jumped out to this record. On four of those occasions (1926, 1943, 1949, and 2003) the team made the World Series. They have the best record in the majors, and lead the AL East by 3.5 games. Big story: In the first game, Clarke Schmidt and three relievers held the Guardians to only five hits and two runs (one earned) and Oswaldo Cabrera's two-run home run in the sixth provided the winning margin as the Yankees took the contest 3-2.

The pitching staff looked real good, as the the only Cleveland runs came when Gleyber Torres threw away a probable double play ball with bases loaded and two runs scored. The second game started with a familiar frustration. The Yanks loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, and came away with only two runs after Alex Verdugo grounded into a double play. Fretting Yankee fans were soon put at ease. The team added six more runs over the fourth and fifth innings, the big blow a three-run home run by Juan Soto.

On the mound, the Yanks went with Cody Poteet, who was recalled from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to be the 27th player due to the doubleheader. Poteet gave manger Aaron Boone all he could ask for and even more, using his sinker, changeup and fastball to keep the Guardians off balance through six innings, allowing only one run. Dennis Santana and Ron Marinaccio closed it out and the Yankees had the game, 8-2, and the doubleheader sweep. Player of the Game: Oswaldo Cabrera had sat out five straight days (three games, two off days) and came back to rip a the crucial home run in the first game. Per many accounts I've read, that's not something easy to do, especially for a young player. Poteet gets the honors in the second game. Congrats to the righthander for a great performance in his first big league action since Tommy John surgery in 2022. Kudos to the Yankees for once again finding from out of nowhere what looks to be a serviceable pitcher. Notable performances: Alex Verdugo reached base six times on the day, scoring four runs...Anthony Rizzo had four hits during the twinbill to raise his batting average to .281...the sample size is small, but Anthony Volpe has a .467 OBP since becoming the the team's leadoff hitter...Clay Holmes nailed down the save in the first game and leads MLB with six. His ERA is 0.00. Old friend Estevan Florial played both ends of the doubleheader for Cleveland and had one hit, a home run in the nightcap off Poteet, in six at bats. Better to forget: Trent Grisham twice came up to bat with the bases loaded in the first game. Twice he grounded into double plays. They said it: "Just being back out there on a Major League field. It's just such a privilege and not a guarantee...very thankful to be able to be out there tonight" - Cody Poteet on the emotions of the day. My take: Pretty much the perfect Saturday for the Yankees. Next up: Get the series sweep! Nestor Cortes (1-1, 3.50) looks to build on his splendid outing against Miami against Logan Allen (2-0, 4.60). Game start 1:40pm.