By Mike Whiteman 6/11/2023 On this day in 1988, Rick Rhoden served as the Yankee designated hitter, the first pitcher to start a game as a DH since the rule was adopted in the American League in 1973. Of course, Shohei Ohtani does this routinely now. Rhoden was hitless in two at bats with a sacrifice fly in the Yanks’ 8-6 win over Baltimore. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA198806110.shtml
Quick Stats: The Yankees are 38-28, good for third place in the AL East, eight and a half games behind Tampa Bay. Their .576 winning percentage translates to 93 wins on the season. Per the baseball-reference Strength of Schedule (SOS) measure , the Yankees have played the hardest schedule in the MLB thus far. The Yankee bullpen leads all of MLB with a 2.81 ERA.
Big Story: Domingo German continued his skillful pitching, throwing six innings and holding Boston to only one run. Good pitching is welcome, as runs at times have been hard to come by for the 2023 Yanks, and the loss of Aaron Judge to injury doesn’t help matters.
Last night though, the offense was just good enough. Gleyber Torres opened the scoring with a home run in the fourth. After Rafael Devers tied it with a solo shot in the sixth, Willie Calhoun answered with a homer of his own in the bottom of the frame.
In the bottom of the seventh, Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a pinch-hit single, and advanced to second on a groundout. He utilized his speed to come around to score on an infield single by Kyle Higashioka.
After German’s solid outing, Wandy Peralta, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes spun scoreless innings, with Holmes closing the game out for the save.
Yankees 3, Red Sox 1. Player of the Game: German continues to pitch well. He has a 2.20 ERA since the beginning of May. Notable Performances: Jake Bauers made a real nice catch off the bat of Devers at the left field wall in the third, saving a run…Kahnle has not allowed a run in four outings this season...Calhoun is batting .310 over his past twelve games. Better to Forget: Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .136 since coming off the IL a little over a week ago. They Said It: “We talk about it, starting in Spring Training. It’s going to take everyone. It’s going to take more than you even think, and we need to be ready for that. To their credit, they’ve come up and done a really nice job for us in helping us win games. Ultimately that’s what it’s about” – Aaron Boone on the “next man up” contributions of Calhoun, Bauers and recently Billy McKinney. My take: Like Yankees-Dodgers games, Yankees-Red Sox games are special to me, even with both teams struggling a bit. The Yankees being without Aaron Judge certainly takes away a good bit of the excitement, and the lineup the team runs out has that 2013 feel to it, as Paul stated earlier in the week. In postgame remarks Calhoun spoke with gratitude about his experience and opportunity with the Yanks this year. Like IKF, he’s an easy guy to root for. Clay Holmes has earned his third save in the past four outings. While Aaron Boone has not anointed Homes as the closer, he does seem to like him in that spot when he’s on – and he’s had a 0.63 ERA over the past month. With Kahnle joining the pen, the Yankee relief corps has what I’d say are four trustworthy high leverage arms – Holmes, Kahnle, Peralta, and Mike King. While perusing baseball news yesterday, I noticed that Aaron Hicks is slashing .364/.481/.591 in Baltimore (only eight games) while playing a flawless centerfield. Hicks’ ending in New York was of course ugly, batting .197 with eight home runs since May 1, 2022. Is this a fluke? Will leaving New York rejuvenate his career? Next Up: Clarke Schmidt (2-6, 4.96) takes the mound against Brayan Bello (3-4, 3.97) tonight at 7:10. Since the calendar flipped to May, Schmidt has a 3.68 ERA, and has allowed three or fewer earned runs in six of seven starts.
