The Yankees beat the Marlins today in Miami, 3-1, giving them a sweep of the weekend series. Another solid start from Jordan Montgomery, timely RBI hits from Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge, and some generosity from the Marlins’ fielders led to the win.
Miami struck first against Montgomery as Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas led off the bottom of the first inning with a 106-mph laser off the left center field wall for a stand-up double. An infield single from Jazz Chisholm Jr. advanced Rojas to third base, and Brian Anderson followed with a groundout to third to score him. Montgomery was able to induce a popup from Jesús Aguilar and struck out Lewis Brinson to end the threat, but nevertheless, the Marlins had a 1-0 lead after one complete.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Montgomery settled down quickly, at one point facing 12 batters in a row without allowing a hit. Greg Allen pinch-hit for Monty leading off the sixth, ending his day, but he finished with yet another very good outing for the Yankees. He finished five complete, striking out five while allowing only one walk and three hits.
Unfortunately, the Yankees offense wasn’t much better than Miami’s for most of the day. Through seven innings, the Yankees managed only two hits while striking out ten times, and predictably had a goose egg on the board to show for it.
Things got loud in the eighth inning pretty quickly and turned things around for the Yankees. Brett Gardner led off the frame with a single, and manager Aaron Boone followed by sending DJ LeMahieu to the plate to hit for Tyler Wade. Fortunately, DJ didn’t hit into a double play as most Yankee fans were expecting and merely struck out.
Giancarlo Stanton, pinch-hitting for Joely Rodríguez, then made every Yankee fan believe their nightmares were coming to life when he bounced a ground ball to Marlins third baseman Brian Anderson for what appeared to likely be an inning-ending double play. Fortunately for the Yankees, Anderson not only bobbled the ball but threw it away, allowing Stanton to reach and Gardner to advance to third base. After left-handed reliever Richard Bleier was brought in to face Rizzo, the new Yankees hero responded with a line-drive single into left field, scoring Gardner to tie the game.
Judge followed suit with an RBI single of his own that scored Stanton and gave the Yankees their first lead. Rizzo was thrown out attempting to advance to third and Joey Gallo struck out to end the inning, but the damage had been done, and the Yankees had a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Rizzo apparently decided that a key RBI single wasn’t enough of a contribution to the team and wanted to use his glove to make up for his error earlier in the game. (A not entirely fair error, as an infield popup landed between Rizzo and Gleyber Torres due to a miscommunication.) Now in the bottom of the eighth with one out, a runner on first, and Chisholm at the plate, Chisholm ripped a Zack Britton sinker 100.1 mph toward Rizzo. Rizzo picked it cleanly and fired to second to begin a beautiful inning-ending 3-6-3 double play.
The Marlins defense couldn’t keep pace with Rizzo and decided to help the Yankees out even further in the top of the ninth. With two out and Torres on first, Gardner bounced what should have been an inning-ending grounder to Chisholm at second base. Reenacting what Anderson had done earlier, Chisholm first booted the ball, then threw it away, which allowed Gardner to reach safely and Gleyber Torres to score. When the dust settled, the Yankees had a 3-1 lead.
Aroldis Chapman headed to the mound in the bottom of the ninth to protect the two-run lead, which meant of course that Yankee fans everywhere immediately started making friends with who or whatever their higher power is. Chapman made us all feel better pretty quickly however with a one-two-three ninth to end the game.
The win gives the Yankees the sweep and their sixth win in their last eight games overall. The offense or lack thereof shouldn’t be overlooked, as it’s still a big problem for this team, but a win is a win is a win. The Yankees head to Baltimore to take on the Orioles tomorrow night for the first game of a three-game set. First pitch, 7:05 pm EDT.
Can someone recommend Suits? Cheers xox