We had about 20-minute rain delay to begin the day on Sunday, one of those sudden summer storms that disappears as quickly as it arrives. It did seem to put a bit of a damper on the Yankee offense to start, as they went nine up, nine down to start the game. Once the sun came out a bit—and once Ranger Suárez was out of the game—the bats finally had a breakthrough inning, the kind you hope spurs things for a hot week.
While that remains to be seen, we know for a fact the Yankees took care of business
Sunday, with a 6-1 win over Boston. Combined with the Rays’ 4-1 loss to the Marlins, the Bombers are back in a share of first place in the AL East for the first time since May 9th.
I think we can put to rest any present concerns about Cam Schlittler and his velo drop:
We got good Cam again, who were it not for an errant — to be generous — throw home by Anthony Volpe, probably would have completed six shutout innings. His first pitch of the game was 99 mph, and it held steady there all day. The Red Sox don’t roll out the kind of offense we’re always used to seeing from them, but it’s the third time in his young career Schlittler’s faced them, and they haven’t figured him out yet.
Indeed, the lone run the Schlittler surrendered came off the bat of Willson Contreras and uh, yeah, it may be time to give Volpe a day off (or two):
There’s just no reason to rush a throw like that, Volpe completely misjudges how much time he has and should have been able to cut Ceddane Rafaela down. Then again, Jazz Chisholm Jr. also probably needs a day off, with three strikeouts and an error of his own on the day (this is a literary device called foreshadowing). Now that I think about it, like six guys on the team probably need a day off…
That the run came as Schlittler was attempting a shutdown inning also stung, as the righty has been so good at providing those when the Yankees manage a run or two. Today, that came courtesy of Paul Goldschmidt, professional hitter:
Ironically enough the 38 year old Goldschmidt could probably stand a day off on his own, but between his own contributions this year and the relative impotence of anyone outside the top third of the lineup, he has become pretty close to irreplaceable.
Fortunately, the team finally broke something out in the eighth, with Cody Bellinger leading the way:
I expect that we’ll see Cody starting in the All Star Game in July, and while that may carry variable meanings to all of you, in the spirit of the event, he’s certainly earned it. Amed Rosario found grass before being brought around on a Trent Grisham double, Anthony Volpe walked, and then, just like we foreshadowed:
Perhaps more than any player on the team, Jazz needs to be the guy to step up with no Aaron Judge. A run of 130ish wRC+ goes a long way to picking up some of that slack, and a long way to earning back some of that free agency money he’s cost himself with such a slow start.
Eagle eyed viewers might notice — or were just shown it on the YES broadcast as we went to commercial — that Jazz was using Aaron Judge’s bat there, not the first time that’s happened since he was acquired. Between that and Giancarlo Stanton’s pants, we may have a good argument for everyone on the team lending Chisholm a piece of equipment to heat him up.
David Bednar had gotten warm in a tie game, picked up his warmup for a save situation, and ended up coming into a laugher. The closer did his job though, sealing up the win and a split of this improvised two-game series. The Yankees now head out to Cleveland for a rematch with the Guardians, who took two out of three in the Bronx last week. Will Warren is scheduled to face off against the AL’s strikeout leader in Gavin Williams, with first pitch at 6:40 Eastern.
