Bronx Bomber Ball

What looked to be a lost game, following a disastrous start by JA Happ, turned into one of the Yankees’ most dramatic comeback wins of the young season. The bullpen held the Orioles to one run, following Happ’s departure, and the Yankees rallied for nine runs in the last four innings of play.

The Baltimore Orioles have, so far this season, proven an easy opponent -- as well they should be. 
Of course, going into the season as the 2019 Yankees' first opponent of the year, the talk across the world of sports news was that the Orioles were in possession of one of the worst teams in MLB.  With a record of 15-31, and after dropping their most recent game 10-0 to the Cleveland Indians, they're certainly proving it. 
While it's been an awfully convenient set of circumstances that has led the Yankees to easy teams in the midst of their unprecedented injury woes, the Orioles are beyond just an easy team.  They're terrible -- and even the "replacement" Yankees (who are proving to be quite the surprise force) have no excuse for losing.  In looking at the pitching matchups, there's only further evidence to the point that the Yankees should breeze through this series.  They've managed to make it to first place in the A.L. East following their 13-5 win ov…

A huge seven-run sixth inning helped lead the Yankees past the Rays, in a game where Aaron Boone decided to emulate the opponent by using Chad Green as an opener.  In the inning, the Yanks scored more than the opposing Rays did through nine innings thanks to great plate discipline from the bombers, who earned nine walks on the day.  Green lasted less than two innings, giving up two solo homeruns. He then gave the ball to Nestor Cortez Jr., who lasted four innings and gave up three runs for the Yankees, the last runs they would surrender all day.  Up until the bottom of the sixth inning, the game was looking to be a back and forth battle with both teams knotted up at five through five innings, with homeruns by: Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Kevin Kiermaier, and Willy Adames.

As it turns out, one run is not enough to win most baseball games. The Yankees offense faltered today as they fell to Tampa in 11 innings by a score of 2-1. 

The Yanks’ sole run came on a Blake Snell wild pitch in the third inning, scoring Brett Gardner after he and DJ LeMahieu strung together two singles. Then, Luke Voit walked, loading the bases with just one out. Obviously, that situation did not yield more runs for New York, although it was not the last scoring chance they would have. Aaron Hicks got thrown out trying to score from second on a Gleyber Torres single in the sixth.

At this time last season, Tommy Kahnle had a 6.14 ERA and was rehabbing a nagging shoulder injury he suffered just six games into his 2018 campaign. He would appear in two more games for the Yankees in late May before being sent down to triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for most of the summer. All in all, Kahnle’s disastrous season ended with him posting a 6.56 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in 24 games for New York. It was a far cry from the 2.70 ERA he put up in 32 games for the Yankees in 2017 after coming over in a trade from the White Sox. It would have been easy for the team to give up on the 29-year-old and make him the forgotten man of their stacked bullpen, but they gave him one more chance and now they’re reaping the rewards.

The Yankees enter the weekend after an off day against the leaders of the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays.CC Sabathia took the mound against the Rays’ opener, Ryne Stanek. Sabathia pitched a gem, only giving up six hits and one run through six innings.The Yankees found themselves down in the bottom of the ninth by two runs, but clutch hitting from Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, and Gio Urshela saved the game.The Bombers won a thriller, 4-3 over the Rays.