YANKEES AVOID SWEEP BY DODGERS

This weekend The New York Yankees had the Dodgers in town. A lot of people are saying this series is a preview of what the World Series could look like.

Friday night was a great game to watch. Cody Poteet and the Yankees bullpen as well as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers bullpen both pitched 10 shutout innings. That’s right, the score was 0-0 going into the 11th inning. Poteet pitched 4.2 innings, walked 3 and gave up 2 hits. Yamamoto pitched 7 innings, walked 2, gave up 2 hits and struck out 7. It wasn’t until the 11th inning that either team scored a run. The Yankees went through 4 relief pitchers after Poteet so that left Ian Hamilton to pitch the 10th and 11th inning. He did alright in the 10th inning but in the 11th inning he hit Freddy Freeman with a pitch and Teoscar Hernandez hit a 2 run double. Dennis Santana came in to replace Hamilton and no more runs scored. Yohan Ramirez pitched for the Dodgers, Aaron Judge hit a RBI single but it wasn’t enough. Giancarlo Stanton struck out looking and Anthony Rizzo flied out to center. The Dodgers won this one 2-1.

Saturday night didn’t go so well either. Well, it was actually a lot worse. The Yankees pitchers could not stop Teoscar Hernandez who hit two home runs and had six RBI’s. Nestor Cortes pitched 5 1/3 innings, gave up 4 runs and only struck out 4. Rookie Gavin Stone pitched 5.2 innings, gave up 2 runs and struck out 6. Both teams played a little back and forth with the score in the first few innings. Hernandez’s first home run was a solo shot in the second inning. The Yankees tied the game that inning with a couple singles and a groundout. Shohei Ohtani had an RBI single in the third and Aaron Judge answered with a solo home run. Game was tied 2-2. Enrique Hernandez hit a solo home run in the fifth inning putting the Dodgers ahead again. Michael Tonkin replaced Cortes in the sixth inning after three batters. Freddie Freeman scored when T. Hernandez grounded out to a fielder’s choice. The Yankees hitters could not get anything going. There were a lot of pop outs, fly outs and ground outs. Tommy Kahnle came in to pitch the eighth inning with the Dodgers only up by 2 runs. But things went south quickly. He walked two and due to a fielding error by Gleyber Torres, the bases were loaded for Teoscar Hernandez; and there was his second home run, a grand slam. Dodgers were now up 8-2. It didn’t end there unfortunately. Dennis Santana came in to pitch the ninth inning. He gave up a single and a walk before Freeman hit a two run double and followed that up with 3 more walks which scored another run. Judge hit a solo home run but nobody else could get on base. The Dodgers won 11-2.

Sunday night on ESPN was Luis Gil versus Tyler Glasnow. The score was 0-0 going into the third inning. Oswaldo Cabrera started the inning off with a solo home run. Alex Verdugo hit a double and Aaron Judge hit a ball that looked like it might be going out but was just short at the center field wall and Andy Pages missed the catch allowing Judge to get to second base and for Verdugo to score. Yankees went up 2-0. The Dodgers scored 2 runs in the fifth inning off a double by Mookie Betts to tie the game. They scored another run in the sixth inning off a solo home run by Teoscar Hernandez who has been destroying the Yankees pitchers the last 3 days. Luis Gil was pulled after that and replaced by Caleb Ferguson. Gil finished the night pitching 5.2 innings, with five strikeouts. He gave up 5 hits and 3 runs and only walked one. The Yankees also had a home run in the sixth inning, a 3 run shot into right field by Trent Grisham, which put the Yankees ahead 5-3. The next inning the Dodgers got two on base with a walk and a single and Ferguson was replaced with Luke Weaver. Weaver and some good defense got the Yankees out of that inning without giving up any runs. Glasnow pitched six innings and despite giving up those 5 runs he finished the night with 12 strikeouts. Yohan Ramirez took over pitching for the Dodgers in the seventh inning. In the eighth inning Shohei Ohtani hit a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right field and Weaver struck out Teoscar Hernandez who was the tying run. Judge lead off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to the second level in left field giving the Yankees a 2 run lead heading into the ninth inning. With two outs in the ninth inning, Clay Holmes gave up two singles but struck out Mookie Betts to earn his 19th save. The Yankees won 6-4.

The Yankees surely missed Juan Soto as he sat out this series due to left arm inflammation. Friday’s game was the first game he’s missed since 2022. Hopefully he will back for the next series against the Kansas City Royals.

In other news, Gerrit Cole pitched his second rehab start with the Somerset Patriots on Sunday. He pitched 4.2 innings, gave up 2 hits and 1 run and struck out 4.