The summer months had not been kind to Yankees starter Orlando Hernández. Between right elbow and back injuries, the Cuban-born pitcher had made just eight starts since hitting the shelf with elbow inflammation in the middle of June. In that span, he had not been his typical self on the mound, posting a 5.51 ERA over that span.
Over the final three starts of August, however, El Duque began to show signs of turning it around, as he went at least seven innings in all three starts and allowed three runs
in his last two. With the Yankees in desperate need of stability in the starting rotation, Hernández had the chance to show his team that his elbow and back troubles were behind him, and that he was ready to be the dominant late-season and postseason pitcher he had been in his first two seasons in New York.
And on September 1st, he delivered.
September 1: Yankees 4, Twins 2 (box score)
Record: 75-56 (1st in AL East, 5.0 games ahead)
There’s really no other way to describe Hernández’s evening as other than electric. He began the game by striking out Denny Hocking on three straight pitches. The next batter, former Yankee farmhand Cristian Guzmán, reached on an error by Tino Martinez, but then was caught trying to swipe second base. Matt Lawton followed that up with a single, but Ron Coomer struck out on five pitches to strand the runner on first. That would be their best chance to do some damage until the fifth inning, as El Duque retired the next nine batters he faced.
The top of the fifth began with David Ortiz — ever the Yankee killer — reaching on a double, coming around to score later in the inning on a Jacque Jones two-out double. Hernández then retired the next five batters, until Ortiz hit a solo shot with one out in the seventh, the first of his career in the Bronx.
Corey Koskie followed that up with a double, and suddenly, it looked like the Twins were in business. But Torii Hunter popped out to second and Jones struck out swinging to end the seventh. El Duque wrapped up his evening with a clean eighth, leaving his final line for the night at two runs on five hits (one home run) in eight innings, striking out six and walking none. Sure, it may have been against a Minnesota team that wasn’t exactly a dominant force at the plate (as a team, they had a collective 85 OPS+ en route to a last-place finish), but ultimately it was a welcome sign that Hernández was locked in and ready for the stretch run.
Of course, none of that would matter if the Yankees hadn’t been able to score any runs against Minnesota ace Brad Radke. Fortunately for them, just as their starter had set the tone in the first against the Twins lineup, the top of the Yankees order jumped on Radke early. Derek Jeter grounded a single through the left side to start the bottom of the first; two batters later, Paul O’Neill clubbed his 13th home run of the season to give the Bombers a 2-0 lead. The lineup would continue to give Radke fits all evening, as they would ultimately collect ten hits and record three walks in six innings. For his part, though, Radke managed to wiggle out of trouble every time, with the Yankees only able to tack on additional runs via a Tino leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth and a Bernie Williams solo shot to start the fifth.
In all, this gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead heading into the ninth, and they handed the ball off to Mariano Rivera. Although he allowed a two-out single to — who else — Ortiz, he slammed the door, securing the Yankees’ 75th win of the season and putting the Yankees five games up in the American League East. They were in the driver’s seat, and barring a late season collapse, September was set up to be nothing more than ensuring the team was lined up properly for October.
Back in 2000, September 1st also marked the expansion of rosters from 25 to a maximum of 40, an increase that has been shrunk to 28 since 2021. In 2000, that day sparked a bit of a controversy, as owner George Steinbrenner unilaterally activated Chuck Knoblauch from what was then the DL, as he questioned the severity of his injury. The move surprised both Joe Torre and Brian Cashman, who expected the second baseman — who had not played since August 2nd — to continue a minor league rehab assignment. Ultimately, he would not return to the field until September 6th, and after some games there that month, he was restricted to DH and pinch-hit duty in October, never to appear again at the keystone.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
