Last night the New York Yankees created a record by winning a game that allowed them 26 straight series without a loss. The Yankees rebounded from a series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field when they went 1-3 in the series. Last night they righted the ship winning over the Atlanta Braves in a 9-6 victory.
The New York Yankees started out this short season at a torrid rate, winning the first eight of nine games. But since then and before last night’s win, they went 2-5. Although their powerful lineup has performed well with 27 home runs in just 17 games, their starting pitching with the exception of Gerrit Cole has been suspect.
On an encouraging note James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, and Jordan Montgomery have improved in their most recent outings. The Yankees seem to have lost faith in J.A. Happ after two poor outings. They have taken the opportunity of a day off on Thursday to skip his place in the rotation.
Tonight as the Yankees look for the sweep of the Braves, they will send out Mashiro Tanaka to get that job done. Tanaka had the only win against the Rays in the last series. He pitched five innings of one-hit ball with no walks and no runs crossing the plate. Late in summer camp, Tanaka was hit on the head by a comebacker from fellow teammate Giancarlo Stanton. He has fully recovered from that injury. The Yankees tonight will hope that Tanaka can continue where he left off in the Rays game. In this third start, the Yankees would like to see him go into the sixth or seventh inning.
When the Yankees take the field tonight at the Stadium they will face Atlanta Braves pitcher right-hander Huascar Ynoa (pronounced Hass-car Yeah-no). This will be Ynoa’s second start as an opener. His season debut came on Sunday as part of a doubleheader against the Phillies and the 22-year-old righty looked good in a limited stint, surrendering one run on a hit and a walk across 2 1â„3 innings. Ynoa would not be the Brave’s choice to start tonight’s game. The Braves like the Boston Red Sox are in sorry shape for pitching at the start of this short season. Mike Soroka is hurt, Cole Hamels still hasn’t pitched off a mound, and Felix Hernandez has opted out of the season.
After tonight’s game, the Yankees will have a day off tomorrow before facing the Boston Red Sox in a four-game series starting Friday and ending Monday at the Stadium. Gerrit Cole will start that series, with James Paxton likely to follow.