Game #54. IKF wins game for Yanks in the bottom of the 10th, 3-2.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the tenth to give a sellout crowd (including me) a happy ride home. The Yanks (31-23) beat San Diego, 3-2.

Luis Severino was fabulous in just his second outing since coming off the IL. In just his second outing of the season, Sevy gave up just one hit in 6 2/3 IP.

The Yanks got on the board right away in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Aaron Judge singled. He got a bad break when the ball didn’t bounce into the stands for a ground rule double. It was hit so hard down the LF line that he was held to a single. Anthony Rizzo followed with a single that moved Judge to third. D.J. Lemahieu then doubled down the line, scoring Judge. From my seat in Section 205 in RF I was hollering “Hold!” but I didn’t scream loud enough, I guess. Third base coach Luis Rojas sent Rizzo as well, and it was a bad send. Rizzo was a dead duck.

In the top of the fourth, Severino gave up his only hit of the game, a game-tying HR to Fernando Tatis, Jr. Tatis had homered the night before, and Tatis was peppered with boos throughout the game because of his suspension last year and part of this year for steroids.

In the top of the seventh, Sevy got the first two outs, then gave up a walk. He lobbied for one more batter to finish the inning, and got a grounder, but Gleyber Torres booted it for an error. Sevy was then taken out, having thrown 82 pitches and because he had just recently come off the IL. Reliever Michael King gave up an RBI single to put the Padres up 2-1 before getting a strikeout to finish the inning.

LeMahieu homered (6) in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game.

The game went into extra innings, with that ghost runner I hate.

Clay Holmes got a short flyout to RF for the first out, and the runner could not advance. A strikeout for out #2. Then a slow roller to Lemahieu and the batter was originally called safe, moving the runner to third, but replay overturned the call for the third out.

Greg Allen PR for Rizzo in the bottom of the tenth. LeMahieu was intentionally walked. Harrison Bader put down a bunt that didn’t exactly work as planned. San Diego got a force on LeMahieu at second, but the main job, getting Allen to third, was accomplished. Bader advanced to second on defensive indifference, then IKF grounded one sharply down the LF line and past the dive of ex-Yankee Roughned Odor for the game-winning hit.

The season is now 1/3 over, with the Yanks 31-23. They are in third place in the AL East, 7 games behind Tampa Bay and 3 behind Baltimore. If the season ended today, they would have the sixth and final playoff spot (they lead Boston by two for that spot) and play the Twins in a best-of-3 (all games in Minnesota) in round one. But that’s a long way away. Keep doing what you are doing, and get people back, healthy and productive. First off, Donaldson, Stanton, Trevino and Kahnle, then Rodon, then maybe at the end of the year Montas and Loaisiga.

Not to mention maybe a trade at the deadline for more help.

LeMahieu 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (6).
Kiner-Falefa GW hit.

Severino 6 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 3 W, 5 K. 1.59 Was just great.
King 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. 1.88
Peralta 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 2.45
Holmes (W, 3-2) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.00

Minor League Action from 5/21/2023. Kahnle rehabs again.

AAA: SWB (21-24) lost 4-2.

CF Estevan Florial solo HR (9). .311
3B Andres Chaparro 2 hits, RBI.
RF Franchy Cordero 2 hits.

Boyle (L, 2-3) 2 2/3 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 3 W, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR. 6.69
Deivi Garcia 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 1 WP 4.24
Bowman 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 3.05
Krook 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 2 K. 1 Balk. 1.17
Brewer 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.70
Weissert 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.00

AA: Somerset (23-15) lost 3-1.

CF Everson Pereira 3 hits. #6 prospect.

Abeyta (L, 2-2) 5 2/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 7 K. 1 balk. 1 HBP 5.79
Giacone 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 1.96
Wilson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1 WP 3.29
Diaz 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 1.65

High A: Hudson Valley (23-16) split a DH.

Game 1: lost 6-0.

Chase Hampton (L, 1-1) 5 1/3 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 W, 7 K. gave up 1 HR. 1 WP 3.10 #26 prospect.
Paciorek 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.92
Neely 1/3 IP, 2 R, 0 W, 3 W, 1 K. 1 WP 1 HBP 2.30
Cortijo 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1 HBP 3.20

Game 2: Won 3-2. in 9 innings (DHs in mnors are 7 inning games, so this one went extras).

Drew Thorpe 6 1/3 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 2 W, 8 K. 3.55 #8 prospect.
Watson 1 2/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K. 1 HBP 1.69
C. Gomez (W, 2-1) 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1 balk 4.58

Low A: Tampa (14-25) won 9-1.

C Augustin Ramirez 2 hits, RBI
SS Brenny Escanio 2 hits, RBI.
3B Jesus Rodriguez 2 hits, RBI.
1B Ronny Rojas 2 hits, 3 RBI. 2-run HR (4).

Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00
Stuart (W, 1-2) 3 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 W, 3 K. 1 HBP 6.89
Velasquez 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.29
M. Ramirez 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 9.00
Bustamente 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 2.50

Game #48. Judge and Rizzo lead Yanks to 7-4, 10-inning win. Rortvedt debuts. Yanks DFA Hicks.

In my post regarding Game #47, I mentioned how the Yanks traded for Greg Allen. Allen was added to the major league team right away and in order to make room for him, the Yanks DFA’d Aaron Hicks, eating the rest of his contract.

It may have been a surprise move to some, that the Yanks would eat that much money remaining on the contract (I’d guess about $28MM and the rest of this year plus two more years?) but it was a long time coming. Hicks was hitting just .188-1-5 this year with an OPS+ of only 46 (100 is average). Since his best year of 2018 (.248-27-79, OPS+ 127 and 22nd in MVP voting), Hicks only hit .218 with an OPS+ of 92 whiles being frequently injured. His defense also has suffered, and the former CF was moved to LF what with Harrison Bader taking over the CF job. From 2017-2020, Hicks’ OPS+ was 120, but injuries hurt his 2017 and 2019 seasons, and Covid shortened the 2020 season to 60 games. The big drop-off in Hicks’ production started in 2021 when more injuries limited him to 32 games. He hasn’t been the same since.

Allen doesn’t have the power Hicks does, but does have more speed and unlike Hicks, who has been a starter, has been a bench player for his whole career, so he doesn’t have to adapt to the role like Hicks has had to this year. Like Hicks, Allen is a switch-hitter.

As for the game, the Yanks rode Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo to a 7-4, 10-inning win. Catcher Ben Rortvedt made his Yankees’ debut and got hits in his first two plate appearances.

Jhony Brito struggled and was sent down to AAA after the game to make room for today’s starter, Luis Severino, who will be coming off the IL and will be making his season debut today. It will be a strange starting time today (Sunday) of 11:35 AM.

The Reds struck first in yesterday’s game, getting a run in the bottom of the first. Brito hurt himself with a walk and a balk before giving up an RBI single.

The Yanks came right back in the top of the third to tie the game. Rortvedt doubled in his first ever Yankee at bat and was brought home on a single by Judge.

The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third. Once again, Brito hurt himself. After getting the first two hitters out, he walked the next three batters then gave up an infield single.

In the bottom of the fourth, Brito once again couldn’t close things out with two out. He got the first two hitters, then gave up a single and a 2-run HR and the Yanks were in a 4-1 hole.

They came right back to tie the game at four each with three runs in the top of the fifth. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a solo HR (2) with one out in the inning. Rortvedt and Gleyber Torres followed with singles. Judge doubled in a run to make it 4-3. Rizzo singled to tie the game, but Judge was thrown out at the plate on a bad send by third base coach Luis Rojas. It hurt at the time because D.J. LeMahieu singled right afterward. You think, hey, Judge would have then scored, but then you have the fallacy of the predetermined outcome. Oh, well.

The game stayed tied and went into the tenth inning. Allen, who arrived in the middle of the game, pinch-ran for Rortvedt as the ghost runner in the top of the tenth. He was moved to third on a flyout by Torres, and you thought that Cincinnati would then walk Judge to try to get out of the inning by making Rizzo GIDP. Instead, they pitched to Judge, and Judge broke the tie with an RBI single—his fourth hit of the day—to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. But it didn’t matter if the Reds would have walked Judge, for (but once again, the fallacy of the predetermined outcome) Rizzo homered (11) to give the Yanks a cushion with a 7-4 lead, and that is the way the game ended.

The Yankees are 28-20 (3rd in AL East, 6 1/2 out), and even with some guys still out (most notably Stanton, Donaldson, Rodon, Montas, Loaisiga, Hamilton, and I won’t list guys who won’t even be back at all this year like Trivino and Effross) are 13-6 this month.

The AL East is one tough division. Toronto is 25-21, which isn’t a bad record, but they are in LAST place in the division.

Torres 2 hits.
Judge 4 for 4 with a walk, 3 RBI.
Rizzo 2 hits, 3 RBI. 2-run HR (11).
Kiner-Falefa solo HR (2).
Rortvedt 2 hits. (First two at bats as a Yankee, two hits. Yankee debut).

Brito 4 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 4 W, 6 K. Gave up 1 HR. 1 balk. 5.58 Sent to AAA after game.
Marinaccio 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 4.09
King 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K. 2.10
Holmes (W, 2-2) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K. 3.44
Weber (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K 3.68

The Yankee bullpen tossed six shutout innings, giving up just one hit.

Minor League Action from 4/30/2023. 7 HR for Hudson Valley in 15-2 rout.

AAA: SWB (10-17) got shut out, 5-0.

LF Elijah Dunham 2 hits. #18 prospect.
DH Harrison Bader 0 for 4 REHAB ASSIGNMENT.
C Mickey Gasper 2 hits.

Ryan Weber (L, 2-3) 5 1/3 IP, 4 R, 8 H, 0 W, 1 K. 6.18
Loseke 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 2.61
M. Gomez 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1 HBP 10.22

AA: Somerset cancelled. Rain.

High A: Hudson Valley (14-7) won 15-2.

SS Alexander Vargas 3 hits, 2 RBI. Hit 2 HR (4).
LF Aaron Palensky 2 hits, RBI. Solo HR (7). Hitting .404.
PH/3B Luis Santos 3-run HR (1).
C Antonio Gomez 2 hits, 2 RBI
1B Rafael Flores 2 hits, 2 RBI
2B Benjamin Cowles 2 hits, 2 RBI. 2 Solo HR (4).
RF Aldenis Sanchez solo HR (1).

Drew Thorpe (W, 1-0) 6 2/3 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 2 W, 4 K. 2.86 #8 prospect.
Watson 2 1/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 7 K. gave up 1 HR. 3.27

Low A: Tampa (8-13) lost 8-6.

C Austin Wells 0 for 4 REHAB #4 prospect.
2B Benny Escanio 2 hits.
1B Jesus Rodriguez 2 hits, solo HR (1)
3B Ronnie Rojas solo HR (3)

Stuart (L, 0-1) 4 2/3 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 W, 5 K. Gave up 2 HR. 1 WP 7.71
Gray 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR. 7.94
Gilbert 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K 3.38
Velasquez 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 1.46

Minor League Results from 4/28/2023.

AAA: SWB (10-15) lost 4-2.

CF Harrison Bader (REHAB) 1 for 4.
3B Andres Chaparro 2 hits.

Sean Boyle 5 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 1 W, 8 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2 HBP 5.91 #29 prospect.
Semple (L, 0-2) 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1 HBP 5.40
McGarity 1 2/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. 2.03
Norwood 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 4.82

AA: Somerset ppd. Ben Rortvedt rehab moved to here.

High A: Hudson Valley (13-6) split a doubleheader.

Game 1: Won 7-4.

LF Aaron Palensky solo HR (6) batting average .395 after this game.
1B Ben Rice 2 hits.
RF Grant Richardson 2-run HR (2).
C Rafael Flores 2 hits.
3B Marcos Cabrera 2 hits.
CF Aldenis Sanchez 2 RBI
SS Benjamin Cowles 2 hits, RBI.

Messinger 4 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 W, 7 K. gave up 1 HR. 2.14
Neely (W, 2-0) 1 1/3 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1.64
Paciorek (S, 2) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00

Game 2: Lost 9-1. Only got 1 hit.

Yulie (L, 1-1) 2 2/3 IP, 8 R, 6 H, 4 W, 3 K. 1 WP. Gave up 2 HR. 7.62
Cortijo 2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 W, 1 K. 1 WP 0.84
E. Santana 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 3.52

Low A: Tampa (7-12) lost 9-8. They hurt themselves with five errors.

C Austin Wells 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (1). On rehab, will move up to AA or AAA. #4 prospect.
DH Omar Martinez 2 hits, RBI
RF Tayler Aguilar 2 hits, 2 RBI. 2-run HR (1)
PH/3B Ronny Rojas 2 hits, 2 RBI 2-run HR (2).

Sean Hermann (L, 1-2) 4 1/3 IP, 4 R, 7 H, 3 W, 4 K. 1 WP 3.60
Gabonia 1 IP, 4 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 W, 2 K. 2.70
Y. Calderon 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 3 K. 3.00
Bustamente 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K. 1 WP. 1 HBP 5.63

Minor League Action from 4/27/23.

AAA: SWB (10-14) lost 5-4.

CF Estevan Florial 2 hits, solo HR (3)
3B Jamie Westbrook 2 hits, RBI
DH Rodolfo Duran 2 hits
SS Wilmer Difo 2 hits, RBI

Spence (L, 1-2) 4 IP, 5 R, 5 H, 3 W, 3 K. Gave up 2 HR. 7.97
Loseke 2 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K 3.12
M. Gomez 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 10.32

AA: Somerset (11-7) won 7-5.

RF Brandon Lockridge 2 hits, RBI.
DH Eric Wagaman 3 hits, RBI
2B Eduardo Torrealba 2 hits, 3 RBI.

Will Warren 4 2/3 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 W, 8 K. 4.15 #9 prospect.
Houston 0 IP, 1 R, 0 H, 3 W, 0 K. 1 HBP 9.00
Jennings (W, 1-1) 2 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 2.79
Diaz (S, 1) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K. 1.04

High A: Hudson Valley ppd.

Low A: Tampa (7-11) won 12-2.

2B Brenny Escanio 2 hits, 2 RBI
SS Jared Serna 4 for 5, 2 RBI.
1B Omar Martinez 3 hits, 2 RBI.
3B Ronny Rojas 3 hits, 3 RBI 2-run HR (1).

Brock Selvidge (W, 1-1) 5 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 0 W, 4 K. 3.66 #30 prospect.
Gilbert 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 4 K. 2.79
Ayers 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.38

Yankees announce 2022 coaching staff.

The Yankees have announced and finalized their 2022 coaching staff.

* is someone new for 2022.

Manager-Aaron Boone
Bench Coach-Carlos Mendoza
Pitching Coach-Matt Blake
Bullpen Coach-Mike Harkey
Asst. Pitching Coach–* Desi Druschel
Hitting Coach-* Dillon Lawson
Asst. Hitting Coaches-*Eric Chavez and Casey Dykes
3B/OF coach-*Luis Rojas
1B/INF Coach-*Travis Chapman.

Nice to have Chavez back. He played for the Yanks in 2011 and 2012.

Rojas new Yankees’ 3B coach; ex-MLB SS Lugo dies at 45.

The Yankees have named Luis Rojas their 3B coach, replacing Phil Nevin.

Rojas, 40, managed the Mets in 2020 and 2021, going 26-34 in 2020 (4th in NL East) and 77-85 this past season (3rd).

Former MLB SS Julio Lugo died just a few days before he would have turned 46. Lugo played for Houston (2000-2003), Tampa Bay (2003-2006), The Dodgers (2006), Boston 2007-2009, St. Louis 2009, Baltimore 2010 and Atlanta 2011.

He was SS for the 2007 WS Champion Red Sox, hitting .237-8-73 that season with 33 SB. OPS+ 65.

His 162 g. average was .269-10-57 with 24 SB. OPS+ 87.

In 22 postseason games, he hit .246-0-3.