I don’t know how much the loss of John Sterling affected the Yankees’ players on the field, but his spirit was certainly palpable in all other forms of the game. Tributes were paid to the iconic broadcaster multiple times, with a touching pregame ceremony and other moments highlighting Sterling’s career and humanity. Perhaps most fitting of all, the Yankees did what Sterling would have wanted most: winning big and sweeping a series. New York completed the four-game rout of the Baltimore Orioles,
12-1.
True to form, Aaron Judge clubbed his 91st first-inning home run, and Sterling’s old radio partner Michael Kay, who seemed to be on the verge of tears just about all night, called it perfectly:
Judge’s blast broke a tie with Albert Belle and moved into another one at 71st on the all-time home run list at 382, even with three outstanding sluggers in their own right: Ryan Howard, Frank Howard, and Hall of Famer Jim Rice.
I actually didn’t think that Yankees starter Cam Schlittler pitched all that well, showing some of the weaker control in his young MLB career. In particular he was falling off hard to the first base side, harder than he normally does. This is often a byproduct of inconsistent mechanics — in essence, your body is out of whack with its normal rhythm. The first inning saw Schlittler slinging 101 with ease the way we have gotten used to, but beyond that it seemed much more work than normal. More inconsistent mechanics don’t necessarily mean you lose velocity, but the three walks to four strikeouts underlines how much more effort Cam needed tonight.
Schlittler got into three jams in 5.2 innings, twice engineering timely double plays to avoid damage, then finally walking in Baltimore’s lone run facing his final batter. Jake Bird made what I think might be the single best pitch of his career to keep the damage at just one, and save Schlittler from what could have been a very ugly line:
With regards to Cam, these things happen to everyone, and certainly to pitchers with 21 MLB starts under their belt. What’s encouraging to me is two things — one, if I can see the mechanical inconsistency, the development team that’s helped get Cam as good as he is now should be able to, and two, he’s been able to adjust between starts a lot in his young career. I expect he’ll be much better next time through the rotation.
After the O’s made it 3-1, the Yankees were able to respond in kind. With two men in scoring position, Shane Baz spiked a ball and Jasson Domínguez was able to scamper home, with the run confirmed on review:
Ryan McMahon tacked on another run with a single, and José Caballero justified the Yankees’ decision to option Anthony Volpe to Triple-A:
All of the sudden the Yankees had a five run lead, and we were all breathing just a little bit easier.
As an aside every Yankee pitcher had some kind of problem with their PitchCom today and I must bring back what I think a very important rule change should be: You get one PitchCom an inning. If it works, great. If it breaks, you have to use old-school signs until you get back into the dugout. There are few things more ludicrous than a trio of grown men staring into an MLB dugout with sad puppydog eyes because their talking PS5 controller’s battery died.
Old friend Lou Trivino was smacked around in the eighth inning in what was his Oriole debut. The Yankees put up a six spot on the right-hander, with all four guys atop the order having run-scoring hits, the biggest one a Cody Bellinger triple that brought in a pair. With a 12-1 lead, it was a pretty easy assignment for Paul Blackburn to close out the game, and the series, and the sweep.
The Yankees are now 24-11, still the best mark in the AL. They welcome in the Texas Rangers to the Bronx tomorrow for a three-game set, a rematch of last week’s series in Arlington that saw New York take two of three. One of those wins came against the man tapped to start for the Rangers, Jacob deGrom, while the loss was in the MLB debut of Elmer Rodríguez, who will go for the Yankees. Something’s gotta give this time around, and first pitch from the Bronx will come at 7:05pm Eastern.
