The Spencer Jones experiment has been extremely interesting over the first few weeks we’ve seen it. Yankee fans have been wondering aloud how a player with such titanic power, but such concerning holes in his swing, would fare against big-league pitching.
The early results have been mixed. He’s kept up his reputation as someone who usually gets a hit whenever he makes contact and he hasn’t looked too overmatched, but he’s also still running a gigantic strikeout rate. It probably doesn’t help that
he keeps facing flamethrowers.
We’ve all been wondering, though, when we’d see that titanic power. It turns out, all we needed was to see him get a mistake from a softer throwing righty, as he pummeled a cutter left over the plate by Slade Cecconi for his first major league home run in the second inning to give the Yanks an early lead. A later home run by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and an impressive five-out save by Fernando Cruz finished off a 3-2 win over the Guardians to secure a series victory.
The game started innocently enough on both sides. Paul Goldschmidt was the only baserunner in a scoreless first for Slade Cecconi, while Gerrit Cole sat down the Guardians 1-2-3 in the bottom half.
That ended as soon as the second inning started. Chisholm worked a six-pitch walk after falling behind 0-2 before Cecconi grooved an absolute cookie down the pipe on 1-0 to Jones, who demolished it 443 feet to dead center field for his first career home run, giving the Yankees a quick 2-0 lead.
Cole got into trouble in the bottom half after a single by Rhys Hoskins and a catcher’s interference call, but worked out of it. Trent Grisham and Goldschmidt both hit singles in the third to threaten further, but a heads up play by Kyle Manzardo cut down on Grisham at the plate on a potential double play ball.
Things unraveled for Cole in the third. After two quick outs, he gave up a single to perennial Yankee killer José Ramirez, who then stole second. With two outs and a runner on second, Chase DeLauter smoked a ball up the middle that Anthony Volpe completely misread, jumping out of the way instead of knocking it down, leading to an RBI single.
While that play could’ve ended the inning, it’s hard to put full blame on Volpe for the rest of the inning. Cole lost Manzardo, plunked Hoskins, and failed to cover first on a play that will give you major flashbacks to tie the game at two. Did all of these extra pitches and baserunners happen because Volpe didn’t make the play? Sure, but if any pitcher should be able to pick up his defense, it’s Cole.
The Yankees had a chance to respond in the fourth after singles by Jones and Ryan McMahon, but stranded them. Cleveland had a chance to take the lead on a laboring Cole with a long single by Austin Hedges and a walk by Travis Bazzana, but the former Cy Young gritted his way through the end of a difficult, four-inning outing.
After Cecconi worked around a two-out walk in the fifth, the Guardians threatened again off Paul Blackburn, putting runners on the corners with one out. The struggling Steven Kwan tried to safety squeeze Manzardo home, but Blackburn made a head’s up play off the mound to tag him out trying to score.
Cecconi finished up his outing with another scoreless inning in the sixth, putting a bow on a second consecutive quality start against the Yankees. Blackburn, Tim Hill, and Camilo Doval were able to get the next six outs to send this game into the eighth, still tied at two.
Tim Herrin, who tossed a scoreless seventh, got to start the eighth and jumped ahead of Chisholm 0-2. For the second time today, a Guardians pitcher was unable to execute a pitch to put away the Yankees’ second baseman, running the count full before hanging a slider that was demolished into the right field seats for a go-ahead home run.
Herrin was pulled for Matt Festa with one out, who got out of the inning after allowing a single to McMahon. With the bullpen depleted, Aaron Boone went to Jake Bird to start the eighth, and just like yesterday, a Yankees’ reliever failed to get outs against their lane. With two on and one out, Boone pulled him for the only fresh reliever on the roster, Fernando Cruz, who did his usual sorcery to get out of the inning with a strikeout of Bazzana and a flyout from J-Ram.
Shawn Armstrong put up a quick 1-2-3 inning for the Guardians in the top of the ninth, setting up Cruz to go for the five-out save. Walking DeLauter on four pitches wasn’t a great start, but he got a pair of swords to strike out Manzardo and Hoskins. Angel Martinez was the last man standing, and he was equally helpless against the deadliest splitter in the game, as Cruz locked down just his second save as a Yankee.
The Yanks will go for the sweep in another mid-week matinee against the Guardians tomorrow at 1:10 pm EST on YES. It’ll be Carlos Rodón up against lefty Parker Messick.
