By Mike Whiteman May 5, 2024 Born on this day in 1969 was Hideki Irabu. The big righthander, known as "The Japanese Nolan Ryan" came to New York with even bigger expectations, and didn't come near meeting them. He did have his moments in the Pinstripes, going 29-20, 4.80 and including a 6-1, 1.59 start in 1998 and a 5-0, 2.81 stretch in 1999. Sadly, this complicated man took his own life in 2011. https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/08/01/hideki-irabu
On this day in 1930, the pitching-strapped Yankees trade reserve outfielder Cedric Durst and $50,000 to the Boston Red Sox for Charles "Red" Ruffing, a righthanded pitcher who at the time had a career mark of 39-96, 4.61 . Durst's career ended after the season, while Ruffing's career took a significant turn for the better and ended up in the Hall of Fame. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ruffire01.shtml
Quick Stats: The Yankees are 22-13 on the season. They are in second place, a game behind the Orioles in the American League East. Clay Holmes has a 0.00 ERA on the season. The Yankee bullpen as a whole has a 2.30 ERA, including a 0.65 stretch since April 23. Since 2023, Clarke Schmidt has had 32 starts allowing three or fewer runs, behind only Sonny Gray in all of baseball. He's only averaging five innings per start, but is providing consistency. Big Story: Following up on Friday night's dramatic game, the Yankees did not let down, jumping out to a 5-1 early lead, then hanging on for the win. Anthony Rizzo's three-run home run in the third inning was the decisive blow.
Clarke Schmidt was just good enough for five innings, holding Detroit to three runs. Once again the no-name middle guys held the lead long enough to pass the game to Clay Holmes, who locked down his eleventh save of the season, leading the American League.
Perhaps the most newsworthy moment was when Aaron Judge was ejected for remarks made while walking back to he dugout when called out on strikes in the seventh inning. It was the first ejection of his career, and per his postgame interview, the first of his life. While we couldn't hear what was said, the moment didn't look overly heated to me. Both Judge and manager Aaron Boone said the ejection was surprising to them. Player of the Game: Rizzo again came up big. Very quietly, he's on a pace for 28 home runs and 93 RBIs. He looks to have shaken off the early rust, and hopefully last year's concussion. Notable Performances: Luke Weaver threw 2.1 scoreless innings, a valuable outing when the team always seems to need three or four relievers to close out games. Coming into the season, Weaver had a 5.14 career ERA. So far this year he's almost cut it in half (2.86)...Judge had two hits including an RBI double...Giancarlo Stanton ripped an RBI single. Better to Forget: Oswaldo Cabrera was hitless and is now batting .239. It may be time for a breather now that Jon Berti is back from the IL. My Take: The thing the team needed to do after the disappointment in Baltimore was to go home and win the next series, and that's exactly what they have done. In fact, the eleven series' the Yanks have played, they have won eight, lost two, and split one. Keep it up! They Said It: "A little surprised walking away that happened" - Aaron Judge on his ejection. Next Up: The Yanks hope to pull out the brooms today, but it won't be easy to beat lefty Tarik Skubal (4-0, 1.72), Nestor Cortes (1-3, 3.86) takes the mound for the home team.
