By Ethan Semendinger
April 20th, 2024
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The Yankees take advantage of the Rays mistakes to win a close one to start the weekend series.
Quick Stats -
Winning Pitcher: Dennis Santana (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Chris Devenski (0-1, 7.36 ERA)
Save: Clay Holmes (8)
Home Runs (New York): Juan Soto (5)
Home Runs (Tampa Bay): Richie Palacios (2)
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Big Story - After a road trip in which they went 3-3 in back to back 3 game series (2-1 against the Guardians, 1-2 against the Blue Jays), some doubts had started to appear in the minds of Yankees fans. Looking across the AL East, the Yankees early dominance was quickly being matched by every other team.
Going into yesterdays game, the AL East looked as follows:
New York Yankees (13-6, .684 WP%)
Baltimore Orioles (12-6, .667 WP%)
Tampa Bay Rays (11-9, .550 WP%)
Toronto Blue Jays (10-9, .526 WP%)
Boston Red Sox (10-10, .500 WP%)
The entire AL East is at, or above, a .500 record. And the last place Red Sox are just 3.5 games back. The only other division like this, so far in the early going of this season, is the NL Central. The first place Milwaukee Brewers (11-6) have just a 3 game lead over the 5th place St. Louis Cardinals (9-10). But, I digress.
All things considered, a 3-game weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays is always going to be important. Any series against a divisional opponent is. However, wins in the early going are only multiplied in importance towards the end of the year. (Remember: The Yankees ALREADY have the season-series record over the Houston Astros.)
And a few more wins here not only keeps the Yankees on top (where they should be), but it also puts the Rays down at the bottom.
Here was the line-up for some Friday night baseball:
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Player(s) of the Game -
Juan Soto: 1-4, Run, Go-Ahead 3-Run Home Run, 3 RBI's, and a GREAT PLAY!
Notable Performances -
Anthony Volpe: 1-3, Run, RBI, Strikeout
Aaron Judge: 1-3, Walk, Strikeout
Jose Trevino: 1-3, Run, Walk
Oswaldo Cabrera: 1-3, Run, Strikeout
Clarke Schmidt: 5.1 IP, 7 Hits, 1 Run (1 Earned Run), 0 Walks, 7 Strikeouts
Better to Forget -
Giancarlo Stanton: 0-4, 1 Strikeout
Gleyber Torres: 0-4, 3 Strikeouts
Ian Hamilton: 1 IP, 3 Hits, 2 Runs (2 Earned Runs), 1 Walk
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The Game - A new name was added to the Bleacher Creatures chants in last nights game. The night before he will be celebrated, honored, and remembered, the roll call last night ended with a loud chant: "JOH-N STER-LING".
Both starting pitchers kept each others teams off the board for the first 5 innings of the game, but the Rays were able to get ahead with a solo shot from Richie Palacios. And, it's not like the Rays hadn't been making a push ahead of time. They were getting to Schmidt inning after inning, but he was able to escape all but one at-bat.
On the other hand, the Yankees were doing practically nothing against Tyler Alexander.
It was a long game.
But, you can't give extra outs to good teams. And the Yankees took advantage of mistakes in the 7th inning. Verdugo got on with an error. Trevino walked, and Oswaldo Cabrera tied up the game on another error. Add in a Volpe RBI-single, and then JUAN SOTO HIT AN ABSOLUTE BOMB INTO THE SECOND DECK TO GIVE THE YANKEES A 5-1 LEAD! (God, he is so much fun.)
However, the fun was nearly short lived. Ian Hamilton looked terrible and was getting hit hard by the Rays. He came in for the 8th, walked the first guy, allowed a double, 2-RBI single, two hard line-outs, and another single before escaping the inning with no more damage done.
And then, Clay Holmes nearly fell apart too. While going for his save, he allowed two straight singles and then a weird non-infield fly call to a missed ball lead to a force-out at third. And then, Richie Palacios hits a hard line drive right into the glove of Anthony Volpe who easily flipped it to Gleyber Torres to grab Jose Siri sitting off second base for a game-ending double play!
YANKEES WIN! (Yankees escape!)
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Next Up - The Yankees (14-6) continue their series against the Tampa Bay Rays (11-10) this afternoon at 1:05 PM on YES. Nestor Cortes (1-1, 4.50 ERA) goes up against Zach Eflin (1-2, 4.63 ERA). There is a pre-game ceremony to honor John Sterling before the game, and I will be watching intently.
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An Extra Note - It is going to be weird not having John Sterling calling Yankee games anymore. He is the only radio voice of the Yankees that I have ever known. He is the voice that would lull me to sleep as a kid while the Yankees were on my iHome radio at night, and he was the most fun to imitate through all of these years. He is irreplaceable, I will look back fondly on having him be there with me all of these years, and I will miss him and his voice dearly as the years go on.
Thank you, John Sterling.
