While Aaron Judge homered again, it was the bats of Anthony Volpe and Isiah Kiner-Falefa that were the big stars in the Yankees’ (34-23) 10-2 win over Seattle Tuesday night.
Volpe hit a 3-run HR and IKF went 4 for 5 with 4 RBI.
Before the game, Jose Trevino was activated off of the IL, and Ben Rortvedt was sent down. Also, Harrison Bader was put on the 10-day IL, and Franchy Cordero called up from SWB.
Anthony Rizzo was still out with a stiff neck, and as a result, IKF was in the unfamiliar position of #5 in the lineup.
The Yanks struck right away with three runs in the top of the first inning. With one out and the bases loaded, IKF hit a 2-run single. Jake Bauers followed with a SF.
In the top of the third, Volpe hit a 3-run HR (8) to make it 6-0.
Greg Allen homered (1) for the Yanks in the top of the fourth to make it 7-0.
Nestor Cortes, for whatever reason, has had the fifth-inning blues this season. He’s fine for the first four innings, then hits a wall when the fifth inning or third time around the order happens. It happened again last night as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the fifth. By that time, he’d thrown 101 pitches and was done.
Judge homered (18) in the top of the seventh to make it 8-2.
In the top of the ninth, IKF singled in two runs to make it 10-2, which wound up being the final score.
Torres 2 hits. Judge solo HR (AL leading 18; leads MLB in SA, OPS, OPS+) Calhoun 2 hits. Kiner-Falefa 4 hits, 4 RBI Volpe 3-run HR (8). Allen solo HR (1).
Cortes (W, 5-2) 5 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 3 W, 6 K. 5.16 King 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 3 K. 1.76 Weber 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.92
I do wonder why, with a big lead, Matt Krook wasn’t used. He could have made his MLB debut and gotten his feet wet. Oh, well.
The Yanks are still in third place in the AL East, but have now closed the gap to 5 behind Tampa Bay and 2 behind Baltimore.
Aaron Judge hit 2 homers and almost a third (a double off the wall) and robbed a Mariner of a HR in the Yanks’ (33-23) 10-4 win late last night in Seattle.
During the game, Harrison Bader had to be removed due to right hamstring tightness. He will have an MRI today and the IL is a possibility.
The Yanks struck first in the top of the second when Bader singled, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a double by Jake Bauers.
Yanks’ starter Domingo German gave up a run in the bottom of the second and the game was tied at one.
Judge’s first HR of the game, a 2-run shot, made it 3-1 in the top of the third. Soon after that, Bader tweaked his hammy in beating out an infield hit.
Bauers hit a solo HR (3) in the top of the fourth to put the Yanks up 4-1. German gave up a run via a HR by Julio Rodriguez in the bottom of the inning and it was 4-2.
The Yanks made it 8-2 with four runs in the top of the fifth. Gleyber Torres led off the inning with a single and Judge doubled off the wall, sending Torres to third. Willie Calhoun doubled in two runs to make it 6-2. After an out, Greg Allen (in for Bader) was HBP. After another out, Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled in both runners to make it 8-2.
German struggled with J-Rod again in the bottom of the fifth, as he singled in two runs for Seattle to make it 8-4.
In the top of the sixth, Judge hit his second HR of the game (AL Leading 17th) to make it 9-4.
Ron Marinaccio came in for German in the seventh and got two straight strikeouts with runners on second and third to get out of a jam.
In the bottom of the eighth, Judge went high above the fence and robbed Teoscar Hernandez of a HR.
Kyle Higashioka got an RBI single in the top of the ninth to make the score 10-4, and it ended that way.
Giancarlo Stanton will begin rehab today (Tuesday) with Somerset, joining Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle there.
Torres 2 hits. Judge 3 hits, double and 2 HR (2-run and solo) (17), 3 RBI and he robbed a Mariner of a HR. Calhoun 2 hits, 2 RBI Bader 2 for 2, removed from game with right hamstring tightness. Bauers 3 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (3). Kiner-Falefa 2 hits, 2 RBI. Higashioka 2 hits, RBI.
German (W, 3-3) 6 1/3 IP, 4 R, 7 H, 3 W, 4 K. 1 HBP. Gave up 1 HR. 3.98 Marinaccio 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 1 WP. 4.00 Abreu 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 3.58
Gerrit Cole didn’t have his “A” game, but the Yankees’ (32-23) offense picked him up to have Cole improve his record to 6-0 on the season. A seven-run third inning proved to be decisive in a 10-7 win over the Padres.
Cole gave up a HR to the second batter he faced, and San Diego had a quick 1-0 lead.
Aaron Judge tied the game in the bottom of the first inning with his 15th HR of the season. With that HR, he took over the AL lead in HR, even though he missed ten games by being on the IL. Pete Alonso of the Mets leads the majors with 20 HR.
In the top of the third, the Yanks got sloppy. With two out and a man on second, Jose Azocar singled to make it 2-1, Padres. However, errors by Harrison Bader and Kyle Higashioka let Azocar come all the way around on the play and it was 3-1 Padres.
Then, in the bottom of the third, the Yanks exploded for seven runs to take an 8-3 lead. Higashioka led off the inning with a double and scored on an Anthony Volpe single. Volpe took second on the throw home. Gleyber Torres singled Volpe to third, and then Judge singled to tie the game at three, with Torres stopping at second. A single by Anthony Rizzo gave the Yanks a 4-3 lead. Now the Yanks had Judge on second and Rizzo on first. D.J. LeMahieu was robbed of a 3-run HR, but the long flyout enabled Judge to tag up and go to third. Bader grounded into a force out that scored Judge to make it 5-3. Bader’s hustle down the line avoided the inning-ending DP and enabled the inning to continue. The “Gas House Gorillas” procession continued with a double by Willie Calhoun to make it 6-3. A single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa made it 7-3, and Higashioka’s second double of the inning made it 8-3.
Ex-Yankee Rougned Odor hit a 2-run HR in the top of the seventh to cut the Yanks’ lead to 8-5, and after a single, Cole was relieved by Jimmy Cordero, who promptly gave up a double. Second and third, no out, tying run at the plate. Cordero gave up an RBI fielder’s choice, but then got two strikeouts to get out of the inning. 8-6, Yankees.
The Yanks got two runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 10-6. With one out, Bader homered (6). Calhoun singled, and after a force out, IKF stole second and went to third on an error. Higashioka singled to make it 10-6.
The Padres pushed across a run in the top of the ninth, but the Yanks held on for the 10-7 win.
The next four games will have late starts, since the Yanks are now on the west coast. 9:40 PM Eastern Mon-Wed in Seattle, then after an off day on Thursday, Friday night’s game against the Dodgers has a 10:10 PM Eastern Time start. Saturday is 7:15 PM eastern for Fox, and Sunday night is 7:08 pm Eastern for ESPN. June 5th is an off-day, and the Yanks next play at home on Tuesday, June 6.
Tonight’s game (Monday, Memorial Day) will have Domingo German on the mound, as he returns from his 10-day suspension for too much sticky stuff on his pitching hand. He needs to be careful. The next time, it will be a 50-game suspension.
Judge 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (15). Took over AL HR lead. Bader 2 RBI. Solo HR (6) Calhoun 2 hits, RBI. Higashioka 3 hits, 2 RBI.
Cole (W, 6-0) 6+ IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 H, 3 W, 9 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2.93 J. Cordero (H, 4) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 3.47 Marinaccio (H, 5) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1 HBP 4.10 Holmes 1 IP, 1 R, 0 H, 2 W, 0 K. 3.27
After Friday night’s game, Randy Vasquez was sent back to SWB and Matt Krook, a lefty reliever, was called up.
Aaron Judge homered to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and rookie SS and #1 prospect Anthony Volpe hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth to give the Yankees (30-20) a 6-5 come from behind victory over Baltimore Tuesday night. It was the Yankees’ fifth straight win.
Gerrit Cole got his 2,000th career strikeout, but otherwise wasn’t sharp last night. With two out in the top of the first inning, Cole walked two straight batters, then gave up a two-run double and the Yanks were down 2-0.
He gave up solo homers in the third and fourth to put the Yanks into a 4-0 hole.
Harrison Bader homered (5) in the bottom of the fourth for the Yanks to cut the lead to 4-1, then the Yanks scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.
Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a single and went to second on a single by Gleyber Torres. After Judge lined out, Anthony Rizzo doubled in one run. A single by D.J. LeMahieu brought home Torres, and Rizzo scored on a Bader SF.
Cole probably should have been pulled at that point, but he started the top of the sixth and gave up two singles to start the inning. Ron Marinaccio relieved him, and things got hairy. One run did score to give the Orioles a 5-4 lead, and the final out was Cedric Mullins (who homered earlier) just missing a grand slam, as he flied out deep to Judge in right.
In the bottom of the seventh, with one out and runners at the corners, D.J. LeMahieu twice tried to bunt the runner home. Instead, Torres was out at home. Manager Aaron Boone said D.J. was doing that on this own. There is a time for that, but that didn’t seem to be the time. Try it first, ok (he fouled that one off) but not a second time. That was a real head-scratcher.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Judge tied the game up with his fourteenth HR of the season.
Michael King stopped Baltimore and its ghost runner in the top of the tenth, leaving the runner at second. In the bottom of the tenth, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the ghost runner for the Yankees, as he PR for LeMahieu. Bader grounded out, and that moved IKF to third. Willie Calhoun was intentionally walked as the Orioles hoped for a DP to get out of the inning, but Volpe flied to CF for a game-winning sac fly.
Torres 2 hits. Judge solo HR (14). HR tied game in bottom of 9th. Rizzo 3 hits, RBI. Bader 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (5) Volpe GW SF
Cole 5+ IP, 5 R, 6 H, 3 W, 2 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2.53 2000th Career K. Marinaccio 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.75 Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.83 King (W, 1-1) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 1.95
Off night for Cole, but five scoreless IP by the bullpen.
Luis Severino pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up only one disputed run in coming off the IL. It was Sevy’s first start of the season. Now we continue to wait on Rodon’s return.
The Yanks beat the Reds, 4-1, Sunday in a game that started at 11:35 AM Eastern Time. With the win, the Yanks swept the three-game series from Cincinnati. Tomorrow (Monday) is an off day for the Yanks. It was the fourth win in a row for New York, sixth in the last seven games and 11th in the last 14 games. After ending April at 15-14, the 29-20 Yanks have gone 14-6 so far this month.
Aaron Judge was given the day off so that with the off day on Monday, he’d have two days off before the Yanks take on Baltimore and San Diego in the upcoming days.
Severino gave up his only run in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff walk, then two outs, but then a fly ball down the RF line was originally ruled foul but then overturned to fair. The umpires ruled the runner to score and placed the batter on second. Manager Aaron Boone argued against the run scoring and was ejected. (Reds’ manager David Bell would be ejected later in the game). The runner was going on the pitch with two out, so he probably WOULD have scored, but once the ball was incorrectly called foul, everyone stopped. I think Boone’s argument was that if they were going to overrule the call with the correct call and give a double and two bases, then the runner should not be given the run but be stopped at third.
The umps must have had a tough time waking up for the early start. Sevy picked off a runner only after the original call was overturned, and Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes on a pitch a replay clearly showed was high for a ball.
The 1-0 score stood until the top of the fifth, when Harrison Bader hit a 2-run HR (4) to give the Yanks the lead. That trade of Montgomery for Bader doesn’t look too bad now. Monty is doing OK with the Cardinals, 4.21 ERA but only a 2-6 record to show for it. Since the deal he is 8-9, 3.60. Looks like he isn’t getting much help over there. It’d be nice to have Monty but boy, can Bader go get them in CF and he is showing more power than we thought (5 HR in last year’s postseason and 4 already this year). Bader is bringing a great deal of energy.
Gleyber Torres upped the lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth with his seventh HR of the season.
In the top of the seventh, Jake Bauers walked with two out, and newly acquired Greg Allen ran for him. Allen stole second and went to third on a WP. Anthony Volpe doubled home Allen to make the score 4-1.
Clay Holmes gave us a scare in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases before closing out the game.
Because Sevy was coming off the IL and had a pitch limit, he was pulled one out away from earning the victory.
Kyle Higashioka was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in the game at that point in the top of the ninth inning. In the top of the seventh, with men on second and third and just one out, he had struck out instead of helping the Yanks add on to a 3-2 lead. He had pounded the bat into the bat rack in frustration at that point.
It was time to redeem himself, and he did, hitting a two-run double to ensure the Yankees’ win. The Yanks (3rd in AL East, 27-20, 6 1/2 out) beat Cincinnati 6-2 Friday night.
Aaron Judge, hot as all heck, gave the Yanks an early lead with a solo HR (13) in the first inning, and Anthony Rizzo upped that lead to 3-0 with a 2-run HR (10) in the top of the sixth.
In the middle of the game, the Yanks got a scare. Already playing one man short because of the suspension of Domingo German, Clarke Schmidt caused a controversy by being checked out by the umpires. It turned out he was ok with the amount of rosin on his hand, but that the fuzz from inside of his glove was sticking to and making a black mark on this non-pitching hand. He was told to wash it off, and he complied. All good. But Cincy manager David Bell thought that Schmidt deserved the German treatment (which REALLY would have screwed up the Yankees), argued too long about it, and got ejected.
Anyway, Schmidt then ran into trouble in the sixth, giving up a single and double. Jimmy Cordero came in for Schmidt and gave up a two-run double to make the score 3-2. He walked the next batter while there was an SB. So first and third, 3-2 game but Cordero escaped without any more runs scoring.
Then came the ninth and Higgy’s redemption. Gleyber Torres walked, and two outs later, Oswaldo Cabrera walked. Higgy then doubled both runners home to give the Yanks a 5-2 cushion. After a walk to D.J. LeMahieu, Harrison Bader gave the Yanks more insurance with an RBI single. 6-2.
After the game, it was announced that the Yanks traded a minor league pitcher to Boston for OF Greg Allen and cash considerations. Allen, 30, was previously with the Yanks for 15 games in 2021. He has played for Cleveland (2017-2020), San Diego (2020), the Yankees (2021) and the Pirates (2022). He hasn’t played in the majors this season yet, but is expected to join the team in Cincy. We will see what the corresponding moves will be. The switch-hitter can play all three OF positions. He is just a .232 career hitter with an OPS+ of just 71 and I don’t like his BB/K ratio, but he is best for his speed (45 of 53 in his career in SB) and defense.
In return for Allen, the Yanks gave up minor league P Diego Hernandez, who is just 18 and who was 4-2, 2.10 in the Dominican Summer League last year in 12 games, five of them starts.
There has been a lot of B.S. in Toronto the last few games. In hitting his second HR of the game on Monday night, Aaron Judge was caught glancing into the dugout shortly before hitting the HR. People accused him of picking up a sign and cheating. Judge, as well as manager Aaron Boone, explained that Judge was looking over to see who was still chirping at the umpire after Boone had gotten ejected for arguing a bad call on Judge—a strike that once again, was too low for Judge. Judge wanted to also give a signal that “hey, shut up now, I am hitting here.”
Of course, not everyone bought that explanation, and instead wanted to state that Judge, one of the most loved and respected players in the game—a decent player who doesn’t show up anyone—was cheating.
Judge answered those people with a 2-run HR that broke open a tie game and was the winning blow in a 6-3 Yankees (25-19) win over Toronto last night. This time his eyes didn’t move off the pitcher. Take that!
The game wasn’t above other controversy though. And besides controversy, other problems for the Yanks. Both teams sniped at each other for where their base coaches were standing. It was so petty. One thing is for sure. If I were a third base coach and Judge was at bat, I would not be in the coaches’ box but as far back as legally possible. A foul liner off of Judge’s bat, if it hit me in the head, could kill me. The B.S. about where the coaches were standing was juvenile.
The scoring started when the Yanks scored two runs in the top of the third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (IKF), who had a huge night, walked to start off the inning. Jose Trevino, who also had a big night, singled IKF to third. Gleyber Torres singled in a run. After Judge struck out, Harrison Bader hit a grounder that turned into a DP (Torres’ baserunning last night left something to be desired) but Trevino scored before the out on Torres at third so the Yanks were up 2-0.
Yankees’ starter Domingo German retired each of the first nine batters he faced but was ejected before the bottom of the fourth inning due to having too much stickiness on his hand. This is similar to the situation Max Scherzer of the Mets had last month, and Scherzer got a 10-game suspension out of it along with the ejection. We can expect the same for German. German had trouble with this same umpiring crew regarding rosin last month. Now it happened again. German claimed it was rosin on his hand. The umpires claimed it was something else that was stickier than rosin. One thing is for sure, and that is that German crossed the line, but MLB needs to define better what the line is as far as rosin is concerned. David Cone, a former pitcher, had a good video recently showing that in trying to wipe off rosin, that alcohol with water (I may be wrong here as far as what all it was) made the rosin even stickier in trying to get rid of the rosin. There is something going on, and MLB has to be better at defining what the line is, and in having something to remove rosin without making things worse.
Anyway, no German for a while. While the Yanks will be getting Luis Severino back shortly (see my minor league report for how Sevy did last night), the Yanks were shorthanded in the rotation to begin with, and a German suspension doesn’t help. You can’t call up someone from the minors just because of a suspension. Expect a couple of bullpen games while German is out.
To make matters worse, the pitcher who replaced German in the game was Ian Hamilton, who had to be pulled a bit later because of right groin tightness, and he is bound for the IL. I’d expect Greg Weissert to be recalled. If not him, then maybe Matt Krook or Nick Ramirez.
Back to the game. In the top of the fifth, IKF, not one for power, hit his first HR of the season to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead. But Ron Marinaccio gave up the lead as the Blue Jays scored three times in the bottom of the fifth.
That led to Judge answering the critics with his 2-run HR (11) in the eighth. The Yanks added another run in the ninth on a double by IKF, who came around on a couple of flyouts, with Torres getting the SF.
The win moved the Yanks into a virtual tie for third in the AL East with Toronto (Toronto is percentage points ahead), 7 1/2 back of Tampa Bay.
Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole is on the mound tonight for the Yankees.
Torres 2 hits, 2 RBI but also out twice on the basepaths with baserunning mistakes. Judge 2-run HR (11) Take that, critics! Kiner-Falefa 2 hits, RBI. Solo HR (1). Trevino 3 for 3.
German 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 9 up, 9 down. but ejected & 10-game suspension coming up. 3.75 Hamilton 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 2 K. 1.23 IL stint coming up. Marinaccio (BS, 3) 1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 4.74 Weber (W, 1-0) 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K. 5.06 Holmes (H, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.86 Peralta (S, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1.65 Has he replaced Holmes as closer?
Quick notes: Great job by Weber. Also, Bader’s defense is unreal.
The A’s have been a tonic to a lot of bats this year, what with their 8-30 record and ERA of almost 7.50.
The Yanks (21-17) were no exception, as they completed a three-game sweep of Oakland with an 11-3 win on Wednesday afternoon.
The Yanks jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. With the bases loaded, Gleyber Torres hit a SF, then Harrison Bader immediately followed with a 3-run HR (3).
Yankees’ starter Jhony Brito gave up back-to-back HR in the top of the second and the Yanks’ lead was cut to 4-2. Brito was in and out of trouble all day but managed to escape with just those two runs given up.
The Yanks exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth. Aaron Judge led off with a double and scored on an Anthony Rizzo single. D.J. LeMahieu then hit a 2-run HR (5) to make the score 7-2. Torres doubled, and two outs later, both Kyle Higashioka and Oswaldo Cabrera walked. Anthony Volpe then hit a grand slam for his fourth HR of the season and an 11-2 Yankees’ lead.
Deivi Garcia, brought up earlier in the day when Greg Weissert was sent back to SWB, gave up a HR in the seventh and that was it for the day. Final score Yankees 11, A’s 3.
Clarke Schmidt got his first MLB win as a starter in the Yankees’ (20-17) 10-5 win over Oakland last night.
Prior to last night, Schmidt was 5-3 in relief, but 0-6 as a starter.
Schmidt gave up a run in the top of the second but got out of more trouble.
The Yanks exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third. Jose Trevino and Aaron Hicks led off the inning with walks, and Trevino moved to third on a flyout by Anthony Volpe. Aaron Judge, back off the IL, reached on an error that allowed Trevino to score and tie the game. Anthony Rizzo singled to make it 2-1, Judge going to third. Gleyber Torres singled in Judge, Rizzo going to second. Harrison Bader, who has been a big spark since coming off the IL, singled in Rizzo to make it 4-1, Torres going to third. Jake Bauers then hit a SF to make it 5-1.
In the top of the fourth, Schmidt gave up a HR to Jordan Diaz, the first of THREE HR Diaz would hit in the game. 5-2, Yankees.
Torres hit a 2-run HR (6) in the bottom of the fifth to put the Yanks up 7-2.
Diaz homered for the A’s in the top of the seventh. 7-3.
Bauers hit a 2-run HR (2) in the bottom of the seventh. 9-3 Yankees.
Diaz’ third HR of the game, a 2-run shot, cut the Yanks’ lead to 9-5 in the top of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Volpe led off the inning with a triple, then scored on a SF by Judge.
Aaron Hicks had to leave the game early with hip tightness.
The Yanks have an afternoon game today, starting at 12:30. Jhony Brito is the starting pitcher.
Judge 2 RBI Rizzo 2 hits, RBI. Torres 2 hits, 3 RBI. 2-run HR (6). Bader 3 hits, RBI. Bauers 3 RBI. 2-run HR (2). Both his hits this year (2 for 12) are HR.
Schmidt (W, 1-3) 6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 W, 7 K. gave up 1 HR. 1 WP 5.35 Abreu 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 4.86 Peralta 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 2.03 Weissert 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 W, 2 K. gave up 1 HR 5.06 Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 3.46
The Yankees (19-17) blasted 4 HR in beating ex-Yankee J.P. Sears and the Oakland A’s 7-2 Monday night.
Oswaldo Cabrera started the scoring with a 2-run HR (2) in the bottom of the fifth. This followed a Harrison Bader triple. Up to that point, Isiah Kiner-Falefa made two great defensive plays at 3B.
The A’s came right back in the top of the sixth and tied the game up.
The Yanks went ahead to stay in the bottom of the sixth. A HR by Gleyber Torres (5), single by Anthony Rizzo and HR by D.J. LeMahieu (4) put the Yanks up 5-2.
Aaron Hicks’ first HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the bottom of the seventh, closed out the scoring. 7-2 Yankees.
The Sommer Frieze 
