Yankees beat the Yankees, Gray shines, Kluber other worldly
The Yankees stumbled to their fourth loss in five games at Progressive Field as two of the best lined up to face each other in a preview of a possible re-match during the 2017 Playoffs.
Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, must have sensed something ominous was on the horizon last night when he withheld both Aaron Judge and Matt Holliday from the starting lineup last night against Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians.
Figuring that going up against a talent like Kluber is no way for a player to break out of a slump, Girardi presented a watered down offense that included Austin Romine, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Ronald Torreyes.
But that surprise awaiting viewers who tuned in last night was nothing compared to the Yankees bumbling ways greeting Sonny Gray in his first start as a Yankee.
Expecting Gray to be the one with the butterflies, Yankees fans could only gasp at what they saw when the Bombers gave the Indians two runs in the bottom of the first inning behind three errors, each of which led to runs.
In the end, those runs did not prove to be decisive as the Indians tacked on three more while the Yankees could only manage a solo home run by Gary Sanchez and a 5-1 loss that was aggravated by both Boston and Tampa Bay wins.
Girardi reacted later telling the YES Network:
Kluber pitched a complete game allowing only three hits while striking out twelve. Gray came up big for the Yankees tossing six innings, allowing just four hits and striking out six. But it was nothing to match the out of this world performance of Kluber.
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The buzzsaw that Girardi saw coming their way was right on the money. Reminiscent of the cutter thrown by Mariano Rivera, one after another all in precisely the same location, Kluber frustrated the Yankees with his slider.
Kluber commands the pitch right to the outside corner of the plate on right-handed batters, and just before the pitch reaches the plate, it darts down well off the plate for another swing and miss, leaving yet another frustrated batter walking to the dugout shaking his head.
Where are the hit masters?
Regardless, though, the Yankees bats need to wake up in a hurry. And Girardi may have done a favor for Judge and Holliday last night, especially with Judge, who in his current mode, would have been flailing at that slider all night long.
But in all likelihood, they’ll be back in the lineup tonight to face Trevor Bauer at 7:10 PM EST at Progressive Field. Last night makes three games in a row the Yankees have received starts from their pitchers which should have been good enough to win (CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and now Gray).
Next: Tanaka still holds the keys to the kingdom
The “other half” of the team’s recent additions, Jaime Garcia, is making his first start as a New York Yankee. But the lift provided to the team by these additions is quickly canceled out if the team can’t hit the ball and score some runs.
Hopefully, that ominous feeling that in Cleveland is gone and the Yankees can rebound with a decisive win tonight.