Gleyber Torres Walks It Off For The Yankees As They Come Back From The Dead Once Again To Beat The Astros
The Yankees should have lost this game without question.
They committed five errors in the field. FIVE.
They struck out 17 times. SEVENTEEN.
I doubt a baseball team has ever won a game with those two combinations.
It didn’t matter. These guys have showed us time and time again that they will fight until the very last pitch no matter who is out there. We’ll flash forward to the 5th inning after CC Sabathia got through five frames surrendering five runs (3 earned) behind a terrible Yankees defense tonight. For the second time in three starts the big fella had to work extra hard with errors being committed all over the place on what should have been routine outs. I thought tonight he was better than his previous four starts, he just got unlucky with the defense.
The Yanks trailed 5-2 in the bottom of the 5th when Aaron Judge launched a missile to right field off the second deck for his 15th homer on the year. This thing was demolished.
That shot MLB Network had of the homer was so fucking cool. I could use some more of that in the future on homers.
The Yanks trailed by two at that point, but were unable to chip into the deficit the next three innings. Luckily, the bullpen was nails tonight thanks to Jonathan Holder, Robertson, Betances and Chapman. Combined they held the Astros scoreless, surrendering just two hits to this dangerous lineup. Holder faced some adversity in the 7th when Gleyber bobbled a chopper to second, allowing both runners to reach safely. It was the kid’s second error of the night and lately he’s looked like he’s thinking too much out there and trying to be superman. In the process he’s made some rare mistakes with his glove, but I don’t foresee that continuing. Once you make one and then another and it’s all mental at that point. I had people DMing me saying he should be the DH. LOL RELAX GUYS! Gleyber is an awesome defender and always has been his whole career in the minors. He’s just a little inside his own head at the moment. Luckily he would make up for it a little later in the ball game as you may have seen at the top of this blog. Holder worked out of the unnecessary trouble, giving the Yankees two innings of scoreless relief tonight. He still has not allowed an earned run since April 6th. The man is locked on the mound.
In the 9th inning Andujar walked to start the rally off, followed by a Gleyber strikeout. That brought up the leadoff man Brett Gardner, who started the Yankees’ night off with a homer. Gardy turned on a 97 mph fastball at his chin and tomahawked it just over George Springer’s glove at the wall for a massive game-tying home run. Yankee Stadium went into a complete frenzy.
Gardner has been SMOKING in May, while some other hot April bats have cooled. It was Gardy’s fourth hit of the night which raised his average to .256, getting that OBP up to .363. All that talk of whether he belonged at the top of the order has been dispelled.
The Yankees had a chance to win it right then and there after a Judge line drive double down the right field line. Stanton came up trying to play hero ball in a much need opportunity, but instead reached on an infield single to short. The struggling Gary Sanchez stepped to the plate and put together just about the worst at bat you could possibly have, striking out on three pitches, not coming close on any of them. If you throw Gary a slider away right now, he’ll chase it. For the first time in his young career, he’s struggling badly at the plate.
In the 10th, Roldy walked the number 9 hitter Tony Kemp with two men out. The speed demon advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sanchez didn’t really have a chance at it as Chapman threw the 102 mph fastball in the dirt causing it to skip away. With Springer up at the plate Roldy sailed another fastball over Gary’s head. Sanchez caught the lucky bounce off the backstop in mid-air and fired a strike to Andujar to get the sprinting Kemp to end the inning.
Give Gary all the shit you want, but that was a helluva play, especially with Springer up trying to take the lead for good.
In the bottom of the 10th Miggy Andujar ripped a double down the left field line because what else does he do? The ball was fucking smoked (his second double of the game) and just like that the Yanks had themselves a little two out rally. The rest is history. Gleyber stepped to the dish, worked a 2-2 count and lined a 95 mph fastball the opposite way to give the Yankees a magical comeback victory in The Bronx. G Baby was having a tough day in the field, but did he let it get to him at the plate? No chance, already with an RBI single earlier in the game, Gleyber stayed calm, cool, and collected as he ripped that fastball to right to redeem himself. He’s a special, special player.
The Yankees had zero business winning this baseball game. ZERO. What did they do? They scrapped together runs, inning by inning, pitch by pitch, while the bullpen shut the door on the Astros trying to extend their lead. The Yanks have been in a bit of a lull the last two weeks, playing basically .500 ball, but this win feels awesome. They’re now 4-2 against the defending champs this year and will go for the series victory tomorrow with Severino on the bump. The last time Sevy faced the Astros he threw maybe his best game of his career going the distance in a shutout in Houston. Let’s ride this magic baby!
Two more quick notes I want to add here: 1) Didi picked up two more hits, giving him back to back multi-hit games against some tough Astros pitching. His swing looks better and he’s taking more balls up the middle of late which is a great sign. 2) The Astros could have easily scored earlier in the game having first and third with just one out. Gurriel ripped a ball to right field as Altuve ran from first on the pitch. Judge noticed Altuve on the move and calming fired in a strike back to first to double up the Astros star and end the threat. It wasn’t an impressive throw by Judge’s standards, but it was one heck of a heads up play that many right fielders wouldn’t have made. His defense will never get the proper credit it deserves, because of how good a hitter he is, but he’s right at the top no question when it comes to his position.
Carrabis was covering this game for the Astros beat, but stopped about halfway through.
Not the work ethic you want to see from your national baseball writer folks.
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