Good news and bad news as Yankees’ bullpen carries team to victory

On Tuesday afternoon, the New York Yankees faced off against the Detroit Tigers, coming off of disappointing series against the Baltimore Orioles. After losing two of three games to Baltimore, the Bombers needed a bounce-back win, which they thankfully got, despite Gerrit Cole doing his best Wild Card impression.

The Yankees narrowly squeaked by Detroit, thanks to a terrible 1st inning from the Tigers, featuring a pop fly between the catcher and pitcher that dropped to the ground, driving in two runs.

Nonetheless, let’s take a look at the good and bad news from the win on Tuesday.

Good news:

Right off the bat, the Yankees’ bullpen impressed significantly after Cole was knocked out of the game in just 1.2 innings. After an impressive first inning, collecting multiple strikeouts, Cole proceeded to walk three consecutive batters, five in total. He walked in a run, and a poor throw from Joey Gallo in left field provided another via a pop fly.

The bullpen, however, was phenomenal, as Clarke Schmidt lasted 3.1 innings and struck out six batters, giving up two hits. Along the rest of the way, the bullpen allowed just one hit over four innings, striking out two batters in the process.

Having relief pictures who can supplement poor starting pitching is a huge positive for a Yankees team that has struggled offensively this season.

There were a few individual batters who performed well, notably Aaron Hicks, who tallied one hit and two walks. Isiah Kiner-Falefa posted two hits and a walk in three at-bats.

Impressively, Anthony Rizzo recorded three walks on the afternoon, helping the Yankees get on the board early in the game after the error from Detroit in the first.

Overall, the Yankees record earned eight walks, which is an impressive number. They did strike out 13 times, but that is a discussion we will have momentarily.

Bad news:

The bad news ranges from Gerrit Cole to Joey Gallo, who performed poorly in the batter’s box and made a terrible throw from left field to a tagging runner at third base. As mentioned above, Cole was tortured in the 2nd inning, giving up multiple walks and two runs. He tossed just 68 pictures before Aaron Boone decided to make a change to Clarke Schmidt.

If the Yankees continue to rely on their bullpen at this rate, they will be burned out by the All-Star break, so general manager Brian Cashman may want to consider injecting a bit more starting talent. Otherwise, the players currently on the roster need to step up and last a bit longer, giving the bullpen adequate rest.

Shifting over to Gallo, who picked up four strikeouts on the day, lowering his average to. 121, also struggled in the outfield. His terrible throw had to be cut off by Cole, which ultimately ended his day.

There’s an argument to be made that Gallo is simply getting unlucky, making solid contact resulting in outs. However, there’s no dodging the poor numbers on his stat sheet, which must be considered when justifying his name in the lineup every day.