Last night the New York Yankees entered a pivotal series with the Seattle Mariners, as both teams are battling for a wild card berth. Both teams were coming off lost attempts for a series sweep. The Yankees won two of three from the Orioles, and Seattle took two of three from the Rays. Tonight Gallo won it for the Yankees 5-3.
The Yankees were in third place 58-49, six games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. They are 7-3 in their last ten games. The Mariners are in third place in the AL West. They are 58-51, going 5-5 in their last 10 games, 7 1/2 game behind the Houston Astros. Tonight Nestor Cortes Jr. faced Tyler Anderson. Nestor Cortes kept the Yankees in it as Joey Gallo homered to give the Yankees the win.
With the win, the New York Yankees are now just 5.5 games out of first place in the East. While the Yankees have been excelling, the rival Red Sox and Rays have not been doing anything to help their cause. In the last ten games, the Rays are 5-5, the Red Sox 3-7, and the Yankees 8-2. There are only 54 games left in the 2021 season. If the Yankees continue at the same pace they can forget about the wild card berth, they will win the East.
Nestor Cortes Jr. does a good job
Nestor Cortes has been one of the pitchers called up to replace Corey Kluber, who was ailing from a sore shoulder. So far, in 12 games since May 30th, 4 of them starts, Cortes has no record but an impressive 2.15 ERA. He has more than a strikeout per inning while walking only 13 and allowing only two home runs.
Last night was no different; he went 5 innings giving up two earned runs while keeping the Yankees in the game. Following Cortes, Chad Green came in and allowed an additional run in two innings of work. Zack Britton had a scoreless eighth, and Aroldis Chapman got the save, albeit a shaky nail-biting one.
Joey Gallo’s moon shot
With all the attention on the Yankee acquisition Anthony Rizzo due to his RBI in each game since he has been a Yankee, the acquisition of Joey Gallo has been overshadowed. Gallo has done fine hitting a couple of doubles and showing off defensively, yet not making the splash that Rizzo did. Last night that all changed as Gallo lifted the Yankees to a big win over the Seattle Mariners.
Last night Gallo in the seventh inning against Seattle reliever Paul Sewald, Gallo, with two on base, hit a 3 run home run that disappeared into the night sky. The moon shot was so high it went out of the reach of the cameras and caused all on the field to stretch their heads skyward. When it finally came down, it landed just short of the second row of the short porch at Yankee Stadium. No one was happier than Gallo himself that recorded his 26th home run of the season, leading all of the Yankees.
Yankees Covid luck continues to be bad
Yesterday before the game, the New York Yankees got the bad news that their primary catcher Gary Sanchez had tested positive for the coronavirus. The news caused the Yankees to bring up backup catcher Rob Brantly as they can’t have just one catcher available. Kyle Higashioka will take over the day-to-day catching.
This week, Gary Sanchez became the third Yankee to test positive for the virus, joining pitching ace Gerrit Cole and starter Jordan Montgomery. It is not known if any of these three were unvaccinated. Adding these three to the list makes a total of nine Yankees players who have caught the virus, and that does not include Gleyber Torres and 6 in the traveling party in the original May outbreak.
The timing of the most recent outbreak is unfortunate as the Yankees fight for a wild card berth. The Yankees last night used Nestor Cortez as a replacement. Tonight it is thought at this point that they will patch together a game, and on Saturday, will use their newest call-up, Luis Gil, again. Yankee manager Aaron Boone had this to say about the situation:
“It definitely seems like we’ve been hit a little harder [than other teams],†Boone said. “I guess I’m a little concerned about everything, but I mean, no,we just gotta keep doing the best we can. Actually, Gary was wearing a mask much of [Wednesday]. We continue to get hit by some things, so we just gotta deal with it the best we can and try to get the best care for our guys.â€