Brett Gardner Plays Hero Ball as the Yankees Beat Jacob deGrom and the Mets
That was fun huh? Alright not really, sorry bad joke. Jacob deGrom for six innings (really seven) was every bit of the monster he’s been all season long. I mean for a long period in the game I thought he was going to shut us out in 80 pitches. He was that dominant, but the Yankees found a way.
Masahiro Tanka reached first on an error by Adrian Gonzalez with one out in the 6th. Gleyber looped a single against deGrom to move Tanaka into scoring position (not really though). Gardy worked a five pitch walk to load the bases with one out. All Aaron Judge needed to do was hit a deep fly ball and the game was tied. Judge did just that, flying out to Jay Bruce in right, but that meant Masahiro Tanka would have to sprint from third to beat the throw. In every single one of our minds Chien Ming Wang getting hurt in Houston flashed, so we just all put our heads down in prayer.
Of course he had to come out of the game despite throwing just 75 pitches in 5 very good innings. For now they’re calling it tightness in both hamstrings, so I guess that’s decent news since it’s muscle injury and nothing structural? Still, AL pitchers running as fast as they can trying to score stinks out loud. That sucked to see. Tanaka said after the game he had just about the same tightness in both hammys and would not rule out missing a start, saying he’ll have to see how he feels tomorrow. An MRI might be coming based on what the doctor says. On the mound, except for the first batter of the game when Nimmo hit a lead off bomb, Tanaka was brilliant, striking out eight and allowing just that hot hit. His splitter was NASTY all night long.
In the 8th, with the game tied, Gleyber ripped a two out single to left for his second hit off deGrom. Not too bad for a rookie huh? That brought Brett Gardner up who launched a missile to right just over the right field wall for a mammoth two run homer.
Of all three of the games this weekend I expected to lose tonight, especially with Tanaka coming out after just five frames and deGrom on the bump. Gardy changed all of that in one swing.
The King of Citi Field, Giancarlo Stanton came up in the 9th against made-up person PAUL SEWALD. With the count in Stanton’s favor at 3-1, Sewald hung an 82 mph slider that Giancarlo deposited just over the left field home run line.
The Yankees bullpen was forced to get more outs than originally expected tonight with Tanaka exiting early, but that wasn’t an issue. Holder worked a 1-2-3 6th while Chad Green worked around two singles in the 7th to get through unscathed. “One Inning Dellin” came in for the 8th and was virtually un-hittable. In the 9th, Aroldis Chapman appeared to either suffer a slight pull or a minor cramp, but stayed in the game to close it out even with the tying run at the plate. The biggest play of the inning came on Todd Frazier’s sharp ground ball to third with two on and one out. Miggy Andujar dove to his left and snagged it, making a great throw from his knees to get the out at second, avoiding a possible two run double. Remember how terrified people were of Andujar’s defense during the spring? I mean they were petrified. He’s proven everyone wrong.
Poor deGrom who pitched a great game overall, but was once again backed by one run of support. That’s got to be the most frustrating thing in the world. This guy should be 13-0, but instead he’s 4-1. Come to the Evil Empire Jake, we’ll give you some runs.
In other news, since I doubt he’ll blog the game tonight, the Sox got shutout at home by the White Sox LOL. Not that I care, since it’s too early to give a shit about standings, but I know Red Sox fans read these to fill the comment section with nonsense so I’ll give them the good news.
Aw Damn.