YANKEES COME OUT SWINGING AGAINST THE ROYALS BUT FALL SHORT OF A SWEEP
- April Claudio, Contributor
The New York Yankees bounced back after a tough series against the Dodgers to take 3 out of 4 games against the Royals.
Monday night, Juan Soto rejoined the Yankees lineup as DH after missing the Dodgers series. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo took the night off. Carlos Rodon faced off against Seth Lugo. Both strong pitchers having really good seasons. But only one could get the win and that would be Carlos Rodon. Rodon pitched seven innings and only gave up 1 run. Lugo also pitched seven innings but gave up 4 runs. The Yankees went up 2-0 in the first inning off a bunch of singles and a sacrifice fly. They scored another 2 runs in the fourth inning off a few more singles. Rodon’s only earned run was off a bunch of singles in the seventh inning. Ian Hamilton gave up another run in the eighth inning when Bobby Witt Jr. hit a double. The Yankees won 4-2. Michael Tonkin earned his first save of the season.
Tuesday night, Marcus Stroman pitched against Brady Singer. Stroman pitched 5.2 shutout innings and gave up 4 hits and 3 walks. Singer also pitched 5.2 innings but gave up 6 runs while also striking out 6. The Yankees core starting 5 batters were all back in the lineup. Anthony Volpe hit a triple to start the first inning and Juan Soto walked. Volpe scored on a single by Aaron Judge and Soto scored on a fielders choice ground out by Giancarlo Stanton. Yankees were up 2-0. They scored 4 more runs in the fourth inning. Alex Verdugo hit a single, Stanton was hit by a pitch, Gleyber Torres hit an RBI single and Austin Wells hit a 3 run home run. Torres scored another run in the fifth inning due to a fielding error. The Yankees scored 3 more runs in the seventh inning. Judge hit a monster 2 run home run into the center field fountain and Stanton followed up with his own monster solo home run. Yankees were now winning 10-0. Ron Marinaccio came in to pitch the eighth inning and gave up the Royals only run, a solo home run by Freddy Fermin. Yankees won this one 10-1 and Stroman earned his sixth win.
Wednesday night the Yankees came out swinging early. Dan Altavilla, who had just pitched his first inning in the majors since 2021 on Monday, started for the Royals and didn’t make it out of the first inning. But the Royals only wanted him to pitch the first inning. After throwing 27 pitches and loading the bases twice, he was replaced by Daniel Lynch IV. Anthony Volpe hit a single, Juan Soto walked and Aaron Judge hit a single to load the bases. Soto and Volpe scored on a single by Alex Verdugo. Then Gleyber Torres walked which is when Altavilla was pulled. Anthony Rizzo flied out to center but got an RBI and Jose Trevino hit a 3 run home run putting the Yankees up 6-0 in the first inning. Lynch pitched well until the fifth inning when Giancarlo Stanton hit a monster two run home run that landed near the center field waterfall. Cody Poteet, on the other hand, pitched 5 1/3 innings, and only gave up 4 hits and 2 runs. He pitched five shutout innings before giving up a single, a walk and a double in the bottom of the sixth. He was pulled and replaced by Ian Hamilton who has been struggling recently. Hamilton walked one and struck out another, but Bobby Witt Jr. who hit the double off Poteet scored on a sacrifice fly. The score was then 8-2. In the seventh inning Soto was hit by a pitch, Alex Verdugo reached on a fielder’s choice and Torres brought everyone home with a home run. The score was now 11-2. Also in that inning Hamilton gave up a couple singles and the Royals scored another run. Tommy Kahnle came in to finish the inning but gave up a walk and a single and the Royals scored another run on a wild pitch. Luke Weaver and Caleb Ferguson finished out the game and the Yankees won 11-5. Poteet is now 3-0 in his starts for the Yankees.
Thursday afternoon was the last game of the series with Nestor Cortes pitching against Alec Marsh. Marsh had a no hitter going into the seventh inning. He gave up one hit to Juan Soto, struck out 7 and gave up no runs. Cortes also pitched seven innings but only struck out 2 and gave up 2 runs. The 2 runs happened in the fourth inning off a double by Vinnie Pasquantino. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the eighth inning off the Royals bullpen. Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run and Jahmai Jones and Trent Grisham scored off a fielding error and a couple singles. The Yankees were now winning 3-2. Unfortunately the Royals scored 2 runs in the ninth inning off Clay Holmes. Maikel Garcia hit a walk off 2 run double and the Royals avoided the sweep. It was the fourth blown save by Holmes out of 23 chances. The Royals won 4-3.
The Yankees will now head to Boston for a 3 game weekend series against the Red Sox.
In other news, Gerrit Cole is scheduled to make his third rehab start on Friday.