Yankees Take Series from Indians to Close First Half

The New York Yankees ended the first half of a tumultuous 2016 season on a high-note, with an exciting series win against one of the American League’s strongest clubs this year, the Cleveland Indians.

Just a week ago, the Yankees had lost three of four to the lowly San Diego Padres. Optimism was not high with seven more road games against the White Sox and Indians looming. Selling seemed like a foregone conclusion.

A week later, the Yankees are flying high. A series win in Cleveland moves them to 44-44 on the year, and perhaps a statement was made by the players on the field: don’t give up on the season just yet.

The Indians have the best pitching staff in the American League but the Yankees battled all weekend to take three out of four in impressive fashion: a pair of come-from-behind wins and Sunday’s 11-7 slugfest.

Carlos Carrasco was Cleveland’s starter on Sunday. He entered the game with a 2.47 ERA but the Yankees dealt him his worst start of the season.

In the fourth, Jacoby Ellsbury took a 3-1 pitch that looked like it was in the righty batter’s box and argued after it was called a strike. Good thing it wasn’t called a ball, because Ellsbury took the next pitch deep for a three-run homer.

The Bombers tagged Carrasco for five runs (one earned) and chased him from the game in the fourth. Carrasco has pitched on an All-Star level all year, but this was only his second outing that lasted less than five innings, and the first in which he allowed more than four runs.

The game was ripped wide open in the fifth. Francisco Lindor‘s costly error allowed both Mark Teixeira and Didi Gregorius to score, giving the Yankees a 7-1 lead. A pair of sac flies– by Austin Romine and Brett Gardner, respectively– plated two more runs. Base hits for both Carlos Beltran and Teixeira (his second of the inning) extended the lead to 11-1.

All told, eleven Yankees came to the plate against three Indian pitchers in the fifth. Every batter either reached base or produced a sacrifice in the frame. The six runs made it the second-most productive inning of the season.

Armed with a 10-run lead, the Yankees felt great about their prospects with Masahiro Tanaka on the hill. Through four innings he had given up just one run, but things went south on the righty in the fifth.

Tanaka surrendered three runs, thanks in part to a Gregorius throwing error, and was pulled after Tyler Naquin‘s two-run homer. He lasted just 4.2 innings. It was a six-run outburst that gave the Indians some life, the score was suddenly 11-7. 

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After Sunday’s effort– seven runs, three earned– Tanaka dropped to 1-8 with a 5.33 ERA in eight starts on normal rest. Last week, Joe Girardi acknowledged this as a fact, but was insistent that it’s not always viable to give Tanaka an extra day. If the Yankees plan on making a second-half run, they will need their ace to straighten this issue out.

Tanaka passed the baton to Nathan Eovaldi, and he was just what the Yankees needed. Making only his second relief appearance of the season after being moved to the bullpen last week, the righty settled things down. He pitched a scoreless 4.1 innings and allowed just one hit. He picked up his first win since May 29, and the first of his career while pitching in relief.

Eovaldi could be inserted back into the rotation after the All-Star break, but the Yankees have a need for a middle-innings reliever. Today’s performance gives Girardi some options as the team heads into the dog days of summer.

Next: Yankees Shouldn't Give Up on Chad Green Just Yet

Notes

• The Yankees began their 10-game, three-city road trip with just a 2-4 mark. After taking three out of four in Cleveland this weekend, they came away with a 5-5 record.
• The first half ended with the Yankees winning four out of six.
• The Indians came into the series with the second-best record in the A.L. and the top team ERA. The Yankees averaged 6.25 runs per game in the four-game tilt.
• Sunday’s game marks the fourth time since April 12– when they had a 4-2 record– that the Yankees improved to .500.