The Yankees bounced back from a first-game loss in a three-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. Winning 8–3, the Bombers did more than enough offensively to secure victory, collecting 10 hits in the process.
Aaron Judge became the first batter in 50 years to be intentionally walked within the first two innings with two men out and nobody on base. Ultimately, the Blue Jays felt as though Judge was dangerous enough to change the game in the blink of an eye, electing to avoid any possible mistake.
The Yankees’ Bullpen Looked Solid
The bullpen looked solid after Carlos Rodón tossed 5.1 innings with three earned runs allowed. However, one specific pitcher, Jake Cousins, has been excellent for the Yankees this season.
Cousins is a right-handed relief arm formerly of the Milwaukee Brewers. Last year, he only tossed 9.1 innings, hosting a 4.82 ERA.
However, the Yankees have featured him in 20 innings this season, making 18 appearances. His strikeouts have ballooned to 12.60 per nine innings, including an 83.3% left-on-base rate and 33.3% ground ball rate. While he’s not producing as many grounders as he has in the past, his 2.25 ERA is excellent and suggests he could be a key component moving forward.
Jake Cousins Has Looked Great
Cousins ranks in the 90th percentile or better in average exit velocity, chase rate, whiff rate, and strike-out rate. He’s producing plenty of swing and misses, which is exactly what the Yankees have been looking for. He utilizes a slider and sinker as his primary two options. His slider is producing a .115 batting average, and his sinker sits at .235. In fact, his slider is easily his best pitch, enjoying a 46.2% whiff rate and 31% put-away rate with 14.6 inches of horizontal break, 95% better than the average MLB pitcher.
With a slider of this caliber, the Yankees are finding ways to extract tremendous value from Cousins, who has carved out a nice role for himself.
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The Yankees’ bullpen has been deteriorating over the past two months or so. Still, general manager Brian Cashman acquired Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos at the trade deadline to reinforce the unit. In addition, they hope to get Ian Hamilton back at some point, and Scott Effross is building his way back up in Triple-A at the moment.