by Dale Mather May 23, 2023
*** About Last Night: The Yankees won a nail biter in extras with some late inning heroics by Aaron Judge and the Kid Anthony Volpe walking it off.
Quick Stats: 2B - A Rizzo (8), J Bauers (1)
HR - H Bader (5, 4th inning off K Bradish, 0 on, 0 out), A Judge (14, 9th inning off F Bautista, 0 on, 1 out)
RBI - A Volpe (20), A Rizzo (29), A Judge (33), H Bader 2 (17), D LeMahieu (19)
SF - A Volpe, H Bader
M.King gets the win to even his record at 1-1 Big Stories:
The walk-off sacrifice fly by Anthony Volpe in the bottom of the 10th inning! Volpe got a well-deserved ice bath afterwards, for his first walk-off as a Yankee.
In the bottom of the 9th, with the game looking close to over, #99 Aaron Judge did it again with a huge blast off Bautista, who struck out close to 2 batters an inning. The Yankees also came very close to scoring off Cano, who ranks first in just about every pitching category that matters, including WAR! This, from a guy who came up in mid April?
A very impressive win for the bombers against a very solid bullpen. Baltimore will be a hard game all year!
Player of the Game: Harrison Bader had another great game, and Aaron Judge's blast in the bottom of the ninth was certainly worthy. Tonight I have to give the Player of the game to Anthony Volpe who Volerized the Yankees to a big win. The win, coupled with a Tampa Bay loss, keeps the Yankees moving forward.
Notable Performances: Ron, Wandy, and Michael again held the Orioles in check giving the Yankees a chance to come back. The bullpen this year has been fabulous considering all the injured arms. Help is coming soon in the form of Tommy Kahnle, which will be a welcomed return considering the recent injury to Ian Hamilton.
Better to Forget: Cole's first inning, with 2 outs and only 8 pitches thrown, he walked 2 batters, and gave up the 2 run Double. Paulie O'Neill said it best, "those are bullets you just don't get back". I'd also like to forget the Boonehead bunt call with a runner on 3rd, one out, and DJ at the plate. It makes no sense to me to take the bat out DJs hands. A sacrifice fly would have tied the game.
My Take: Missed opportunities, and questionable calls once again, is a major standout for this game. Cole throwing too many first inning pitches, the offense starting off innings with 2 runners on and no outs, but not scoring. Not scoring the run from 3rd with one out. The questionable bunt sign with DJ. All of which made this a much closer game than it should have been. You can't ever count the Yankees out though as they came storming back to walk it off. Let's hope they can get the win today, and take the series.
Next Up: Yankees and Orioles will meet up again Wednesday, 5/24/2023 at 4:05PM with Nasty Nestor Cortez (4-2 5.21 ERA) matching up with Tyler Wells (3-1 2.94 ERA) once again from Yankee Stadium. This time catch it on Prime TV.
