by Paul Semendinger
September 9, 2022
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About Last Night:
The Yankees were unable to sweep the Twins, losing primarily on a Carlos Correa homer in the top of the 8th. Quick Stats :
Nifty Nestor Cortes retired the first 12 batters he faced. Welcome back!
Cleanup Hitter IKF had two hits
Miguel Andujar hit a two-run homer (his first of the year)
Giancarlo Stanton went 0-1 with a strikeout as a pinch hitter
Sonny Gray - 6 ip, 7 hits, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts
The Yankees were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position
The Yankees left 10 runners on base
The Big Story:
The Yankees righted themselves to a point against the Twins (as they always seem to do) by winning three out of the four games. The Yankees had a chance, plenty of chances, to win last night and sweep. In a large sense (see below) the season comes down to this weekend. Player of the Game:
Carlos Correa - his big homer in the 8th won the game for the Twins. My Take:
This is it. This is the big series. The Rays come into town. For the Yankees, this is their chance to basically put the Rays away. For the Rays, if they sweep, they'll be breathing down the Yankees' throats. They come into this series just three games back in the loss column. If the Rays sweep, the records of the teams will looks like this after Sunday:
Yankees 83-58
Rays 80-58
The Yankees have to figure it out and find a way to prevent that from happening. This is it. The time is now. The Yankees played great baseball through June and should not have ever even been in this situation, but here they are.
Next Up:
Frankie Montas takes the mound tonight against the Rays in the first of three huge games. Let's see what happens...
