The New York Yankees entered last night’s game with a split of the series with the Seattle Mariners and hoping to take the series with a win. In his first game, Andrew Heaney, who had a rough start for the Yankees, faced Chris Flexen. The Yankees got that win their fifth in a row and now hope to sweep the Mariners today. The final score was New York 5, Seattle 4.
Andrew Heaney rebounds for the win
After a disastrous first start of the Yankees last week, Andrew Heaney opened last night’s game against the Seattle Mariners; it looked like Deja Vu all over again. First, he allowed a double to the first hitter he faced. Then, Kyle Seager got a two-run homer to the right-field porch just beyond Stanton’s reach, and just like that, the Yankees were behind 2 runs. Heaney used 40 pitches just in the second inning.
In the second inning, Heaney gave up another two runs. But then Heaney pulled it together. At the top of the third, Seager ground out to first. Murphy went down on strikes. Then, Fraley struck out for Heaney’s first 1-2-3 inning as a Yankee. After that, Heaney was sharp. At the end of the second inning, no one would have thought he would go more than four innings, but he did. He saved the Yankee bullpen and completed six full innings using 108 pitches; meanwhile, the Yankees went ahead in the game, and Heaney earned his first Yankee win.
After the game manager, Aaron Boone called Heaney the player of the game
Bullpen holds as Yankee win fifth
Using nine pitchers the night before, the Yankees needed Heaney to go deep into the game, and he did. Then, in the seventh inning on Saturday, Clay Holmes, when the Yankees were in dire straits, proved why they went after him from the Pirates before the trade deadline.
The seventh inning was led off by Moore facing new pitcher Clay Holmes and struck out. Toro went dowl looking. Haniger also struck out as Holmes struck out the side all looking. For the Yankees and Holmes is was his second perfect outing. Joey Rodriguez finished up a scoreless eighth inning. Then with no rest for four days, Jonathan Loaisiga came in, closing it out for the Yankees in the ninth.
The Yankees creep up in the standings
For the past month, the New York Yankees have been the winningest team in baseball. Last night was a total team effort to get their fifth win in a row and creep up in the standings, albeit without a few major players, the Yankees have found a way to get it done. Last night Aaron Judge homered. Rougie Odor logged a 2 run smash to the short porch. Kyle Higashioka got his first pinch-hit double that ended up being the winning run, while DJ LeMahieu diverted attention to him in a run down.
After a lethargic first half of the season, when even the most earnest Yankee fan thought it was pretty much over the team they loved. Aaron Boone and company kept saying that the Yankees would perform like the championship team they were supposed to be; few believed that.
But early in July, everything seemed to change. The Yankees began winning series. They’ve won 20 of 28 games over the last month, starting with a badly needed victory over the New York Mets. As the trade deadline approached, the Yankees became the most successful team picking up the pieces they needed to complete their team. They picked up three pitchers, contact lefty Anthony Rizzo and lefty powerhouse Joey Gallo. They now have a balanced lineup that can win games.
During the last 28 games, the New York Yankees have gone from 41-41 to 61-49. The Yankees are now just 5.5 games out of first place in the AL East, led by the Tampa Bay Rays. They are 2.5 behind the Boston Red Sox. In addition, they are 1.5 games out from the second wild card slot behind the Oakland Athletics. With 52 games left in the season, the Yankees are looking to win the East division possibly.