What’s the best way to make a lengthy rain delay not make the game feel like a depressing drag? Make the game exciting early and easy to shut off and go to bed before the 27th out is recorded.
In the opener of a brief, two-game set at their spring home of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the Yankees did not get to hit until 9:30pm ET in a game that bled into August 20th. When the rain subsided and they did pick up their bats, they smashed the Rays’ pitching into submission, as six different
Yankees went deep, including multi-homer nights by Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, and José Caballero in his first appearance against his former team since the trade.
Remember that exhilarating nine-homer game against the Brewers on March 29th in the height of the torpedo bat drama? The Yankees matched that effort today, tying the franchise record in homers, with Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. joining the already-mentioned trio with shots of their own. All in all, it was a stress-free 13-3 victory for the team’s sixth win in their last seven games and seventh in their last nine.
It was already a slightly later start than usual before the rain delay at 7:35, but the tarp rolled out right before first pitch to start what would be a lengthy delay of an hour and 55 minutes. Since July 31st, the Yankees have played through delays of 2:45, 1:52, and 1:55 but haven’t suffered any postponements.
The game finally began at 9:30, and it didn’t take long for the Yankees to provide the thunder to go along with the lightning in the Tampa area. After Trent Grisham struck out to start the game, the Yankees went back-to-back-to-back off of Shane Baz. Judge hit his 40th, Bellinger hit his 23rd, and Stanton, after getting just one at-bat in the Cardinals series, hit his 13th. Just like that, it was 3-0 Yankees in an eyeblink.
It was the third time this season that the Yankees walloped three homers in the first inning alone, joining that previous nine-homers game against Milwaukee and April 27th in Baltimore.
Lefty Carlos Rodón finally got on the mound after the lengthy delay and was sweating profusely. After allowing a single to Chandler Simpson and getting a forceout, the sweat started to affect his command. He walked Junior Caminero after getting ahead 0-2 and fell behind Brandon Lowe, but was able to get out of an early jam unscathed.
Chisholm led off the second with a single, and Anthony Volpe beat out a potential double play ball to bring up the former Ray José Caballero. In his first at-bat against his former team since the midgame trade on Deadline Day, Caballero scooped a cutter to the opposite field and dunked it into the knockoff short porch, a “moonshot” at 322 feet to make it 5-0. Funny enough, this is a home run in only two ballparks, but not Yankee Stadium, despite the fact that GMS Field is essentially a carbon copy of the big league park (the other was Fenway, thanks to the Pesky Pole in right).
The Yankees loaded the bases and threatened to break it wide open, Ben Rice skied a ball to left that died in front of the track.
Rodón relented in the second, surrendering three consecutive singles to the bottom of the Tampa order with one out, scoring a run on a Nick Fortes RBI single. The extremely speedy Simpson was able to beat out a potential double play ball to plate a second run, but Rodón avoided further damage once again, keeping it at 5-2.
With one out in the third, Chisholm joined the home run party with his 22nd long ball of the season in the third to make it 6-2. That was the fifth and final blast off of Baz, whose day would end after a season-low three innings. He’s only failed to finish the fourth inning in three starts this season, and two of them are against the Yankees at GMS Field.
After a relatively quick inning from Rodón, the Rays went to Ian Seymour out of the bullpen to try and stay somewhat in the game with a guy who’s been nails for them. A one-out walk by Judge and a ground ball single by Bellinger set up the blisteringly hot Stanton with an opportunity to blow this game wide open, which he happily obliged, smashing a 92.4 mph fastball deep into the Tampa night for his second home run of the day to make it 9-2.
In one night, Stanton tied and passed 1970s-‘80s slugger Dave Kingman on the career home run list, moving ahead of “Kong” with his 443rd, good for 43rd all-time. Next up are Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Vladimir Guerrero at 449.
At this point, after six Yankee homers and five different players, guys started to feel left out. Rice, who’s been getting better results lately, absolutely demolished an 0-1 pitch that nearly cleared the (albeit small) right field patio and onto the highway for his 19th home run of the season. That made it seven home runs in 3.1 innings and a 10-2 Bombers lead.
Rodón badly needed a smooth inning to at least give the Yankees a smidgen of length in a game that was quickly getting out of hand. He responded with his quickest frame of the day, striking out two in a 14-pitch 1-2-3 inning. The Rays finally kept the Yankees in the ballpark in the fifth, working around a one-out walk to Caballero and doubling up Grisham.
A brief delay to start the fifth due to issues with the mound might’ve disrupted the flow of Rodón, who walked the least Three-True-Outcomes hitter in recent history in Simpson before striking out Bob Seymour. (A note on him, he’s the first Bob in the majors in 15 years. I’m sure Jon Bois is proud.) Rodón got a 6-4-3 double play out of Junior Caminero to end the inning, the league-leading 27th double play he’s hit into this season. He’s on pace to seriously challenge 1984 Jim Rice for the most in a single season at 36. He’s the only player with more than 32 in a season, and he’s done it twice.
Judge led off the sixth with a single off of a now-laboring Seymour in his third inning of work. Bellinger, who entered the at-bat 3-for-3 with a home run, decided to keep building on the day’s ridiculous home run total, blasting his second home run of the day into the right field seats. The eighth of the day for the Yankees ran the score up to 12-2.
For the second straight start, it looked like Carlos Rodón would be in serious trouble. After getting out of a disastrous 31-pitch first inning last week against the Twins, he settled in to throw just 62 pitches over the next six innings. Tonight, Rodón was getting beat up by the humid Florida air and was at 62 pitches through three innings, only to rebound and throw 40 in his last three. All told, it’s a quality start for Rodón in brutal conditions, including a lengthy delay and a hot, humid evening. It’s his 13th quality start of the season and he picks up his 13th win, tying Max Fried and Garrett Crochet for the AL lead.
Volpe joined the hit parade with a leadoff double in the seventh against Garrett Cleavinger, but was stranded by the ensuing three hitters. Mark Leiter Jr. was first out of the bullpen for the Yankees, plunking Fortes and once again being the recipient of brutal defense behind him, as Caballero dropped a pop-up to extend the inning. It didn’t come back to bite him, but you have to feel for Leiter, who entered play with a league-worst -10 OAA behind him despite being a reliever.
Bryan Baker came out of the bullpen for the eighth and nearly coughed up the ninth homer, with Paul Goldschmidt skying a first-pitch fastball the other way that was caught in front of the wall in the right-field corner after a Rice walk. Yerry De los Santos came on for the bottom of the eighth and got the first two outs before allowing a double to Christopher Morel and walking old friend Everson Pereira. Jake Mangum smoked a ball down the left field line that got nabbed by Caballero, who made an incredible play that was all for naught because of Mangum’s immense speed, making it an RBI infield single. Yerry flirted with further trouble after another HBP, but evaded the bases loaded jam, keeping it 12-3.
In the ninth, it appeared that the quest to tie the franchise record in homers would fall short, but it was Caballero that continued to shower the team with good vibes, socking his second home run of the day. His first career multi-home run game made it 13-3 Yankees. What a revenge game for him.
With Caballero joining Stanton and Bellinger in the multi-homer fun, they became the first trio of Yankees to do so in one game since Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Bill “Moose” Skowron for the legendary 1961 Yanks.
The Yankees flirted with even more off of Mason Montgomery, with Amed Rosario doubling in his first at-bat since coming off the IL. Judge, who scorched the ball all four times it came off his bat, lined out to Simpson to end the top of the ninth. Tim Hill came on for the bottom half and worked quickly and efficiently, locking down a 13-3 victory.
The Orioles beat the Red Sox and the Phillies beat the Mariners. Despite the teams behind them winning, they’ve leapfrogged the two teams in front of them to hold sole possession of the top Wild Card for the first time in 18 days. Toronto won again (albeit over lowly Pittsburgh), so it wasn’t a perfect night, but it was one they’ll take every time.
The Yankees will go for the abbreviated series sweep tomorrow night, wrapping up the season series with the Rays. It’ll be Cam Schlittler vs Drew Rasmussen at 7:35pm on YES.
