Results tagged ‘ Brett Gardner ’
Yanks’ legs plenty strong in this victory
Speed has not been that much an element to the Yankees’ offense this year. It was thought that they would suffer a power outage this season with the loss of several sluggers, but the Yankees continue to lead the American League in home runs with 36, the most recent coming on Lyle Overbay’s solo shot in the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s 7-4 victory over the Astros.
The Yankees’ other runs were due more to their legs than their brawn, which was good to see. They entered the game with nine stolen bases, the second lowest total in the league. They used thefts to help manufacture the first two runs. Travis Hafner got two of his three RBI because of the steals by Brett Gardner in the first inning and Ichiro Suzuki in the third.
Houston starter Philip Humber also helped the Yankees move around the bases by throwing four wild pitches in his six innings. Two came in the fifth inning in which the Yankees scored twice with only one ball reaching the outfield. Suzuki and Jayson Nix beat out infield hits, and a dash to first base by Brennan Boesch averted a double play and resulted in a run as well.
Eduardo Nunez ran from out of his helmet as usual to turn two of his three hits into doubles, the second of which led to a run in the three-run eighth on a single by Chris Stewart. They seemed like pad-on runs at the time, but the Astros rallied in the ninth against Shawn Kelley that prompted manager Joe Girardi to summon Mariano Rivera, who restored order with a strikeout and earned his 10th save.
Hafner and Suzuki also had three hits in the Yankees’ 15-hit assault. Humber’s record fell to 0-6. He is 4-11 since pitching that perfect game April 21 last year for the White Sox at Seattle.
Hiroki Kuroda overcame a shaky first three innings to pitch a four-hit shutout through seven innings. The Astros were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position over those first three innings and stranded seven base runners. Kuroda found himself after that and pitched to the minimum number of batters through the seventh and is now 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA.
The Astros didn’t score until Chris Carter hit a two-run home run off David Robertson in the eighth. They got two more runs off Kelley in the ninth before Rivera put the finishing touch on a surprisingly strong April for the Yankees, who posted a 16-10 record despite having six regular position players and two-fifths of the rotation on the disabled list during the month.
Yanks continue to overcome injuries
The Yankees are certainly going through some severe tests in the early part of the 2013 season. They opened the schedule without their regular shortstop, without their regular third baseman, without their regular first baseman and without their regular center fielder. One of their starting pitchers was also on the disabled list.
Now less than a full month into the season, they have lost their starting catcher and perhaps another starting pitcher. Yankees manager Joe Girardi never identified Francisco Cervelli as the Yankees’ regular catcher, preferring to say that he and Chris Stewart were sharing the position. Yet Cervelli played in twice as many games as Stewart, so you do the math.
Cervelli will be lost to the team for the next six weeks at least because of a fractured right hand that will require surgery, the result of being struck by a Rajai Davis foul ball in the first inning of Friday night’s 6-4 victory over the Blue Jays. That makes Stewart the regular with Triple A Scranton call-up Austin Romine serving as the backup.
“I know it is disappointing for all [Cervelli] has been through,” Girardi said of his catcher who spent most of 2012 in the minors before getting another big-league shot this year. “A lot of times when a catcher gets hit there you end up with a bad bruise. But it must have hit just perfect.”
Ivan Nova has struggled since the start of the season, and now we may know why. He came out of Friday night’s game in the third inning because of a right elbow that is barking. In four starts, Nova had yet to pitch one out into the sixth inning with his ERA an unbecoming 6.48. Opposing hitters are batting .354 in 56 at-bats against Nova, who has allowed 23 hits, eight walks and three hit batters in 16 2/3 innings.
Nova mentioned to Girardi after the second inning that the elbow had stiffened and that he would give it a try to get loose in the third. When it didn’t, Girardi did not hesitate to remove him. After the game, Girardi said that the Yankees would wait until the results of an MRI before deciding how to proceed with his rotation.
David Phelps is the likeliest candidate to take Nova’s place should he go on the disabled list. Phelps got the winning decision Friday with four strong innings that featured nine strikeouts. Mariano Rivera loaded the bases by yielding three singles, but he struck out Colby Rasmus to register his eighth save in eight tries.
The Yankees got a lot of help from Toronto pitchers in winning for the fourth time in five games against the Blue Jays this year. The Yankees had only six hits but took advantage of 10 walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and a passed ball. Runs scored on the wild pitch and passed ball, which proved to be the margin of difference in the game.
Brett Gardner got a big home run in the eighth inning that created a two-run lead for Rivera to work with in the ninth.
“Guys keep stepping up, just like they did tonight,” Girardi said about the Yankees’ dealing with injuries. “They just keep finding ways. Injuries are part of the game. When you continue to win games, it is very satisfying.”
Andy fans 10, but Yanks blanked for 1st time
Alex Cobb, the impressive righthander who got the best of the Yankees Wednesday night for the Rays, was seven years old when Andy Pettitte broke into the major leagues with the Yankees in 1995. Yet there did not seem much of an age difference in this game.
At 40, Pettitte was to the task against Cobb. Unfortunately, Andy didn’t get much support from his teammates, which made the margin for error so slim. He was kicking himself for getting into trouble in the fifth inning when the Rays ended the scoreless duel with two runs, one of which was not earned.
That was due to an error by right fielder Brennan Boesch, who overran a single by Kelly Johnson that allowed runners to reach second base and third base with none out. Pettitte had put the lead runner on himself when he struck Jose Molina in the foot with a 1-2 cut fastball in the dirt. Andy went to work after that and struck out the next two hitters, but he got too much of the plate with a curve to Ben Zobrist, who lined a double to right-center to score both runners.
Zobrist has been something of a Pettitte killer. The switch hitter is batting .409 with a double and two home runs in 22 career at-bats against Pettitte, who gave up only another run on a leadoff home run by Sean Rodriguez off a first-pitch cutter. Pettitte had good stuff that led to a season-high 10 strikeouts but not enough to avoid absorbing his first loss of the season.
For the second time in three nights, the Yankees managed only two hits off a Tampa Bay starter over eight innings. Cobb came out of the game after giving up his third hit, a one-out single by Brett Gardner in the ninth. Ichiro Suzuki’s single off reliever Fernando Rodney brought the tying run to the plate for the Yankees, but Robinson Cano and Travis Hafner could not get the ball out of the infield as the Yanks suffered their first shutout loss of the year.
There were not too many bright spots for the Yankees despite Pettitte’s work (two earned runs in six innings) that is often sufficient enough for a victory. Sean Kelley supplied two solid innings of relief. Shortstop Eduardo Nunez made two sensational plays to rob Yunel Escobar and Molina of hits and also had one of the Yanks’ four hits.
It turned out to be a .500 trip (3-3) through Toronto and St. Pete, but the trek was considered a disappointment since the Yankees opened the swing with two victories. That they scored merely five runs in three games against the Rays indicates the strength of Tampa Bay’s pitching staff.
2013 All-Star ballot released
Major League Baseball marked the official start of All-Star balloting today for the 84th All-Star Game that will be held Tuesday, July 16, at Citi Field.
Yankees fans might have to make sure of write-in votes to help some of the players make it onto the team. The ballot does not include catcher Francisco Cervelli or outfielder Vernon Wells, for example. Chris Stewart is listed as the Yankees’ catcher, and the three outfielders on the ballot are Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Ichiro Suzuki. Granderson has yet to play a game. Nor have first baseman Mark Teixeira or shortstop Derek Jeter. All had been expected back in May, which is why they were named to the ballot.
Jeter’s case has changed, obviously, with another break in his surgical left ankle that will keep him out of action until after the All-Star break. Alex Rodriguez, recovering from hip surgery, was never expected to play before the All-Star break, so Kevin Youkilis is listed as the Yankees’ third baseman. Also on the ballot are second baseman Robinson Cano and designated hitter Travis Hafner.
MLB’s All-Star balloting program is the largest of its kind in professional sports. Last year, more than 40.2 million ballots were cast, which was a record. This year, more than 20 million Firestone All-Star ballots will be distributed at the 30 major-league ballparks, each of which will have 25 dates for balloting, and in approximately 100 minor-league parks.
Fans may also cast votes for starters 25 times exclusively at MLB.com and all 30 club web sites, including Yankees.com. – online or via their mobile devices – with the 2013 All-Star Game MLB.com Ballot Sponsored by freecreditscore.com.
Every major-league club will have begun its in-stadium balloting no later than Tuesday, May 7. When the in-stadium phase of balloting concludes Friday, June 28, fans will have the opportunity to cast their ballots exclusively online at MLB.com, the 30 club web sites and their mobile devices until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, July 4. Firestone is once again the exclusive sponsor of the 2013 In-Stadium All-Star balloting program. The ballot features an All-Star sweepstakes, in which a winner will be rewarded with a trip for two to MLB All-Star Week, including airfare, hotel accommodations and tickets to the All-Star Game and other MLB All-Star Week events.
“All-Star Balloting is more popular than ever, and we hope for another record-setting year in 2013,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “Major League Baseball is thrilled that fans throughout the world will continue to choose their favorite players for the greatest sporting event of the summer. We look forward to adding a new chapter to the remarkable National League tradition of New York City at Citi Field this summer.”
This will mark the ninth time the All-Star Game has been in New York. The Yankees have been the host team four times in the Bronx – 1939 and the second of two games in 1960 in the original Yankee Stadium and 1977 and 2008 in the renovated Stadium. The game was also in Manhattan twice when the Giants were the host team at the Polo Grounds – 1934 and 1942 – and once each in Brooklyn when the Dodgers were the host team at Ebbets Field in 1949 and in Queens when the Mets were the host team at Shea Stadium in its inaugural season of 1964.
For the fifth consecutive year, this year’s ballot will feature the Home Run Derby Fan Poll. Fans will get to select three players in each league who they would most like to see participate in the Home Run Derby. The Fan Poll also will be available online at MLB.com.
Cano, the winner of the 2011 event at Chase Field in Phoenix, is one of the 10 American League candidates, along with designated hitter Adam Dunn of the White Sox; first baseman Prince Fielder of the Tigers; third basemen Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, Evan Longoria of the Rays and Adrian Beltre of the Rangers; and outfielders Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays, Adam Jones of the Orioles and Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout of the Angels.
The 10 National League candidates are catcher Buster Posey of the Giants; first baseman Joey Votto of the Reds; third baseman David Wright of the Mets; and outfielders Carlos Beltran of the Cardinals, Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Bryce Harper of the Nationals, Jason Heyward of the Braves, Matt Kemp of the Dodgers, Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates and Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins.
The AL and NL All-Star teams will be unveiled Sunday, July 7, on the 2013 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show presented by Taco Bell, televised nationally on TBS. The AL All-Star Team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the NL All-Star Team will have eight. The pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 25 for the N.L. and 24 for the A.L. – will be determined through a combination of “Player Ballot” choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers – the AL’s Jim Leyland of the Tigers and the NL’s Bruce Bochy of the Giants.
Immediately following the announcement of the rosters, fans will begin voting to select the final player for each league’s 34-man roster via the 2013 All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote Sponsored by freecreditscore.com. Fans will cast their votes from a list of five players from each league over a four-day period and the winners will be announced after the voting concludes Thursday, July 11. Now in its 12th season with more than 350 million votes cast, fans again will be able to make their Final Vote selections on MLB.com, club sites and their mobile phones.
This year’s final phase of All-Star Game voting again will have fans participating in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. During the game, fans will vote exclusively online at MLB.com and the 30 club sites via the 2013 All-Star Game MLB.com MVP Vote, and their collective voice will represent 20 percent of the official vote determining this year’s recipient of the Arch Ward Trophy.
Ichiro resurgence can help against lefty pitching
One of the aspects of all the injuries that have beset the Yankees in the early going this year has been vulnerability against left-handed pitching. Losing Kevin Youkilis recently to back stiffness didn’t help a batting order already minus such lefty killers as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.
That situation is why Tuesday night’s 4-3 victory over the Rays was so uplifting for the Yanks. They hung another loss on David Price, the defending American League Cy Young Award winner who four starts into the season is still winless (0-2). Price pitched well enough to win, actually, but the Yankees stayed close enough in the game to strike in the ninth inning against right-handed reliever Fernando Rodney.
The two-run single by Ichiro Suzuki that unlocked a 2-2 score was good to see as well. The right fielder entered the game with a .200 batting average and .250 on-base percentage, both substandard for the one-time hit king. After Rodney loaded the bases with an intentional walk to pinch hitter Travis Hafner and an unintentional walk to Lyle Overbay, who had a terrific at-bat, a sensational play by first baseman James Loney on a foul by Chris Stewart nearly bailed out the reliever.
Ichiro wasted no time and leaned into a first-pitch fastball from Rodney into center field. That second run proved vital when Mariano Rivera gave up a leadoff home run to Evan Longoria in the bottom of the ninth before getting the next three batters for his sixth save. The victory went to David Robertson, who tossed a perfect eighth, in taking over for Phil Hughes, who pitched soundly over the first seven innings.
A key element in the Yanks’ ninth-inning rally was a stolen base by Robinson Cano, who had another strong game (2-for-4, one run scored). The Yankees used their speed well. Eduardo Nunez scored their first run back in the fourth inning after reaching first base on a third-strike wild pitch by Price.
The Yankees improved their record in games started by lefthanders to 4-3 (compared to 7-5 against right-handed starters), but the breakdown indicates southpaws pose problems to them. Even with eight hits against Price Tuesday night one game after they managed only two hits off lefthander Matt Moore, the Yankees are batting .199 with a .294 slugging percentage against left-handed pitching. Against righthanders, the Yankees are hitting .301 with a .536 slugging percentage.
More games like the one Ichiro had Tuesday night (2-for-4, two RBI) would help the Yankees combat the lefty jinx. His other hit was a one-out single in the sixth, after which he scooted to third on a hit-and-run single to left by Jayson Nix and scored on a grounder to the right side by Brett Gardner.
Yanks’ tandem an upgrade at catcher
So where is Russell Martin these days? Oh, that’s right; he took off for Pittsburgh as a free agent in the past off-season because the Pirates came up with a second year in their contract offer. Good for him; I hope he is happy.
I was thinking about Martin during the Yankees-Blue Jays game Sunday at Toronto when Chris Stewart hit a home run in the third inning and threw out Melky Cabrera trying to steal second base in the fifth.
I do not mean to pick on Martin as much as those who kept reporting all winter about how the Yankees blew it by not conceding to the catcher’s contract demands and would regret it. Look at what Stewart and Francisco Cervelli have done so far this year. Does anyone miss Russell Martin all that much?
The Cervelli-Stewart tandem was treated in a few media outlets as some sort of joke during spring training, but the duo have been a major part of the Yankees’ good start that hit a bump Sunday with an 8-4 loss. Stewart was involved in all the Yankees’ scoring innings. He got the Yanks on the board with his first home run of the season, began the two-run rally in the fifth with a single and bunted Jayson Nix to third base with one out in the sixth that preceded the sacrifice fly by Brett Gardner that gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead at that point.
In the first two games of the series – both Yankees victories – Cervelli was behind the plate and had 3-for-8 (.375) with two doubles and two runs scored. He has gotten the bulk of the playing time of the two catchers, with 42 at-bats to Stewart’s 17, but manager Joe Girardi insists that they are sharing the position. However the breakdown, the catching situation has been in good hands.
Cervelli and Stewart are batting a combined .322 with a .525 slugging percentage, three doubles, three home runs and eight RBI in 59 at-bats. Martin? He is hitting .216 with a .353 slugging percentage, three doubles, one home run and three RBI in 51 at-bats. Again, not to pick on the guy, but I cannot remember just when it was that Russell Martin became the second coming of Thurman Munson, which seemed to be an off-season theme in some circles.
Martin had two decent seasons with the Yankees. Last year, he showed renewed power (21 home runs) and had some memorable game-winning hits, including a huge homer against the Mets, but hit .211 for the season. Now I realize that the seamheads who adore the boutique stats don’t make much of batting average anymore, but .211 is still .211, which is not good by any measure.
Stewart had his hands full Sunday with another erratic outing from Ivan Nova, who threw 101 pitches but was gone after giving up a walk and a double to the first two batters in the sixth that the Jays turned into a four-run inning with RBI hits off relievers Boone Logan and David Phelps to regain the lead they would not relinquish again.
The leadoff walk in the sixth was to Toronto designated hitter Adam Lind. I do not know what the Yankees’ scouting report was on Lind, but they sure pitched to him carefully in the series. Lind had five plate appearances and walked in every one, including all four times he stepped to the plate Sunday.
It was nonetheless a positive series for the Yankees, who move on to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a three-game set against another American League East rival, the Rays, who swept the Athletics over the weekend at Tropicana Field.
Despite being booed loudly and repeatedly in the city where he was once a favorite, Vernon Wells will miss Toronto. He had quite series, going 7-for-15 (.467) with a double and two home runs. He also made the defensive play of the game Sunday in the third inning with a fence-climbing catch in left field to rob Edwin Encarnacion of a potential run-scoring, extra-base hit and begin a rally-killing double play.
Gardner also found Toronto to his liking, as usual. He had 5-for-14 (.357) in the series with a double, a home run, a stolen base, two runs and two RBI. Gardner is a .370 career hitter at Rogers Centre with 18 runs, six doubles, six triples, one home run and eight RBI in 30 games.
Lineup adjustment works ‘Wells’
Yankees manager Joe Girardi is known to be stubborn in some of his thinking, for which he is often taken to task, but I generally believe he does a thorough job when constructing a batting order.
The skipper tried a different wrinkle Saturday at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. Girardi had been using Vernon Wells in the 2-hole when the opposition starts a left-handed pitcher to break up the lefty-hitting Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano. Saturday, however, Girardi decided to use Ben Francisco in that spot and keep Wells to the 5-hole where he usually bats against a right-handed starter.
Girardi’s reasoning was sound. Wells had a home run and another hit Friday night and had great career numbers against Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle, so it seemed a good idea to keep him in an RBI slot in the lineup. The move might have also been designed to get Francisco going. The right-handed part of the designated hitter platoon with Travis Hafner is off to a slow start (.154 entering play) and perhaps situated between Gardner and Cano might get a better assortment of pitches.
It worked out fine for Wells, who had another good game against Buehrle, with a home run off the left field foul pole in the second inning, plus an opposite-field single in the fifth. Wells is a .489 career hitter against Buehrle with four doubles, one triple, two home runs and nine RBI in 47 at-bats.
The lineup change did not work out as well for Francisco as he took a 0-for-4 collar against Buehrle.
Yanks still team Blue Jays have to try to catch
One night after they received bad news about Derek Jeter, the Yankees got positive news about Andy Pettitte. The lefthander caused concern when he was pushed back a full turn in the rotation because of back spasms. Pettitte made his first start in 10 days Friday night and looked as if he had not missed a beat.
An efficient, 90-pitch effort carried Pettitte one out into the eighth inning in the Yankees’ 9-3 victory over the Blue Jays. Andy helped make a statement of sorts for the Yankees against the Jays, whom many pre-season prognosticators identified as the favorites to win the American League East this year.
Toronto certainly made a lot of major acquisitions that has revved up Canadian fans. A crowd of 40,028 swelled Rogers Centre Friday night, but Pettitte and his teammates showed Blue Jays followers that the Yankees have no intention of disappearing in the division chase. The Yanks also showed that their acquisitions can get the job done.
The Jays are playing without major off-season pickup Jose Reyes, who is out with a leg injury, but the Yankees do not have their regular shortstop, either. Derek Jeter suffered a setback in his recovery from left ankle surgery and won’t be back in uniform until after the All-Star break at the earliest.
The uplifting performance by Pettitte was an antidote to Thursday night’s 12-inning loss to the Diamondbacks for a Yankees squad that dragged into Ontario in the wee hours. Fortunately, Andy flew ahead and was plenty rested for this start. The Yankees handed him a 2-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Travis Hafner and a run-scoring infield out by Vernon Wells. Pettitte gave up half the lead in the bottom half, but by the time Toronto scored again the Yanks had constructed a seven-run lead.
Pettitte scattered six hits, including a thunderous home run to center field by Jose Bautista (no crime there, he can launch them) with one walk and five strikeouts in improving his record to 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA. Pettitte’s 248th career victory gave him an 88-49 mark (.642) with the Yankees following a team loss. That’s the definition of a stopper.
The Yankees gave him plenty of support, a 13-hit assault against Brandon Morrow and three relievers that featured 10 knocks for extra bases. Hafner homered and doubled. Wells and Lyle Overbay added home runs, Brett Gardner a triple, Francisco Cervelli and Ichiro Suzuki two doubles each and a double by Cano, who had three hits in all. The Yankees also took advantage of an errant throw to the plate by Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus with Wells and Suzuki scoring on the play in the third.
It was a satisfying night for Wells and Overbay, who played significant portions of their career in Toronto and were deluged by boos in their plate appearances. They got the last laughs, however, by slamming homers. Wells spent 12 years north of the border and Overbay five. They teamed to continue the Yankees’ strong run by newcomers along with Hafner.
The Yankees have batted .294 as a team with 23 doubles, one triple and 19 home runs in winning eight of their past 10 games. They lead the AL in home runs with 25. Cano has five homers in the Yankees’ 15 games. He didn’t hit his fifth homer of 2012 until the club’s 43rd game. With a 2-for-3 game, Cervelli raised the batting average of Yankees catchers to .314 in 51 at-bats. A year ago, Yankees catchers ranked 24th of 30 big-league clubs in batting at .220 in 542 at-bats.
Pettitte’s effort was another quality start for the rotation that has pitched to a 2.70 ERA in 66 2/3 innings over this stretch that has pushed the Yanks’ record to 9-6. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are 7-10, so who is chasing whom?
Late-inning magic carries Yanks over D-backs
Watching the Yankees come back for a 4-3 victory Wednesday night over the Diamondbacks brought to mind the 2001 World Series.
No, the Yankees’ late-inning heroics in this game came nowhere near matching those remarkable Series Games 4 and 5 when two-run, ninth-inning home runs by Tino Martinez one night and Scott Brosius the next saved the Bombers from oblivion and headed them in the direction of miraculous, extra-inning victories. True, Arizona prevailed by winning the next two games in Phoenix to cop the World Series, but those final two games at Yankee Stadium that year were a tremendous memory.
These are much different teams today and the venue was merely an inter-league series not one for a championship. There was one constant, of course, and that was Mariano Rivera, the only player from that World Series who was on the field Wednesday night (Andy Pettitte was in the Yankees dugout and Matt Williams on the Diamondbacks’ coaching lines, however).
Unlike that Game 7 of the 2001 World Series that still haunts him, Rivera notched the save Wednesday night in preserving the lead that Travis Hafner’s pinch home run in the eighth inning off righthander David Hernandez gave the Yankees and CC Sabathia on an otherwise frustrating night.
Sabathia did not have his best stuff, except what was in his head and heart. The lefthander gave up two first-inning runs on an opposite-field homer by Paul Goldschmidt. After a leadoff triple in the fifth by Josh Wilson, who scored on a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pollock, Sabathia allowed only one base runner and no more runs through the eighth.
D-backs lefthander Wade Miley gave the Yankees fits for six innings, limiting them to two hits, one walk and a hit batter. Miley, who finished second to Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper for the National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award last year, got two outs in the seventh inning as well, book-ending a single by Ben Francisco, his first hit with the Yankees.
A double down the left field line by Brennan Boesch served to unsettle Miley, who proceeded to walk the 8-9 hitters, Eduardo Nunez and Jayson Nix, the latter forcing in a run. Brett Gardner, who is starting to heat up, got the Yankees even with a two-run single off lefthander Tony Sipp.
Hernandez retired the first two Yankees hitters in the eighth, but Hafner, batting for Francisco, clocked the first pitch he saw into the right field bleachers for his fourth home run. It was up to Mo to get the final three outs in the ninth for what became an exhilarating victory.
Despite a noted lack in velocity, Sabathia had a sound outing to improve to 3-1. He threw 31 pitches in the first inning but only 77 pitches over his remaining seven. CC is 11-2 with a 2.83 ERA over his past 16 inter-league starts covering 111 1/3 innings and is 10-1 with a 2.97 ERA in 16 career starts and 106 innings against NL West opponents.
After stumbling out of the game with a 1-4 record, the Yankees have won seven of their past eight games, thanks in large part to the rotation that has pitched to a 2.58 ERA in 52 1/3 innings during that span. Yankees hitters are batting a combined .309 with 17 doubles and 14 home runs and have outscored the opposition, 51-19, during that stretch.
Rivera recorded his 70th career save in inter-league competition in 77 opportunities, extending his major-league record. Mo has converted each of his last 28 regular-season save chances at home against the NL dating to June 14, 2001 without allowing a run in any of those games.
Jack O'Connell
Recent Comments