A great man once said " If you win series in baseball, you will be fine" and that is exactly what the New York Yankees are doing, as they took 2 out of 3 from the San Diego Padres (5-2,4-5,7-0) for their 8th series win in a row and their 12th in 13 tries.
Since I already wrote about the first game in this weeks "Mondays W Marv" piece. I am going to give my thoughts on the last two games of this series.
GAME 2: PADRES 5 YANKEES 4
In another fight-back game, the Yankees fell short as the Padres evened this series at 1.
Masahiro Tanaka wasn't sharp early, as he gave up 5 straight hits to start the game without even recording an out, as the Padres took a quick 4-0 lead with a Machado RBI single and a 3 run by Eric Hosmer. However, Tanaka would settle down and pitch 5 innings of 1 run ball the rest of the way. As for the Padres pitching, Mark Lauer was brilliant as he went 5.1 innings of 1 run ball, with the lone run being a solo blast by Gary Sanchez to get the Yankees back in the game and cut the Padres lead down to 4-1.
Down 5-1 in the 7th, the Yankees tried to rally against several Padres relievers. It started with Brad Wieck relieving Matt Weiser to start the strange 7th inning, as after a walk to Kendrys Morales and a strikeout of Clint Frazier. Padres manager Andy Green went to the bullpen again, as he brought in Phil Maton to face Thario Estrada before making yet another pitching change after a Thairo walk. But it was after a Brett Gardner single, that Green got on everyone's nerves as he went to the bullpen again with the bases loaded this time bringing in Craig Stammen out of the bullpen.
But this move backfired, as for the second straight day, the Yankees knocked Stammen around, as DJ LeMaihuie knocked home two runs with a single that cut the Yankees deficit down to 5-3.
It was 5-4 after a Luke Voit single reloaded the bases for Aaron Hicks, who's fielders choice cut the Padres seemingly safe lead down to 5-4, with runners on the corners and 2 outs for Gary Sanchez.
But fortunately for the Padres, Stammen found his groove as he forced Sanchez to fly out to left field to end the threat.
As for the Yankees bullpen, they used their lower tier guys and they were amazing, as Joe Harvey, and Luis Cessa combined for 3 scoreless innings, with Cessa getting out of bases loaded, one out jam in the 9th to keep the Yankees in it at 5-4. In the bottom of the 9th, the Yankees tried to rally against MLB saves leader Kirby Yates, but weren't able to, as the last straw for the Yankees broke when DJ grounded into a call reversed game-ending double play to secure the win for the Padres.
MVP: Sometimes the little things can be the big thing, as even though it wasn't relevant compared to everything else that happened. Greg Garcia's RBI bunt single off Tanaka in the 6th to put San Diego up 5-1 was the game-winning RBI, and with that, he gets the "MVP cap" for this game.
STATS TO KNOW:
The Padres used 7 pitchers in tonight's game.
THOUGHTS:
We lost, tough but we battled back and showed our fight again. Just focus on the series finale tomorrow.
Tanaka started out bad but settled down.
The offense came back but it wasn’t enough don't worry get them in game 3.
I said Sunday on Twitter and I’ll say it again!!!
The comeback isn’t a waste of time. It shows how hard it is to beat this TRIPLE A team. No lead is safe on these guys Because they will come right back in an instant! I’m taking the comeback out of this game and taking it to tomorrow. Let’s win this series!!!
GAME 3: PADRES 0 YANKEES 7
In what was supposed to be an epic pitchers duel between James Paxton ( Who made his return from the IL today), and potential ROY winner Chris Paddack of the Padres.
But the Yankees had other plans, as they smoaked Paddcak and the Padres 7-0 to win the series between California and NY in the Bronx.
It started in the bottom of the 1st as DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit blasted back to back shots to give the Yankees a quick 2-0 lead. Then in the 2nd, Gio Urshela went deep to give the Bombers a 3-0 lead off Paddack.
As for Paxton, he was amazing going 4 scoreless innings and striking out 7 on 66 pitches, as he tries to work himself back to 100% healthiness.
The Yankees would continue to pound the Pads, as they would get another run off Paddack in the 5th via a Gardner sac fly in the 5th that put the Yankees up 4-0 before later putting this game to bed in the 7th, when Gleyber Torres went deep for a 2 run HR off former Yankee Adam Warren to put the Yankees up 7-0.
The Yankees bullpen was outstanding, as Chad Green, Adam Ottavino, Jonathan Holder and Nestor Cortez JR combined for 5 scoreless innings, with Cortez getting out of a bases loaded 0 outs jam to secure the Yankees 7-0 win to clinch the series over the Padres.
MVP: James Paxton
SERIES MVP: Camron Maybin. Camron was underratedly good in this game, as he racked up a couple of hits and scored the Yankees 5th run of the game after stealing 3rd and scoring on an error.
LEFTOVERS:
Jonathan Holder went 2 scoreless innings
Gio Urshela made another web gem at 3rd.
Luke Voit got his 1st TRIPLE of his career in this contest and scored on the Gleyber HR!
PIVOTAL MOMENT OF THE SERIES:
For me it’s that second inning of game 1, as those 2 Yankees long balls set the tone for the game- and ultimately the series.
ROSTER MOVES:
The Yankees IL count is down to 14 with Paxton coming back, as Jake Barret made it 15 by going on the IL with a knee inflammation.
THOUGHTS:
Big series win!! Unbelievable job by everyone, as we continue to keep grinding it out. Hopefully we can keep this up against Boston!
UP NEXT:
The Yankees (36-19) will host the Boston Red Sox (29-27) in the Bronx for a 4 game showdown starting Thursday.
The Yankees lead the Rays by 1 game for the AL East lead, and lead the 3rd place Bosox by 7.5 games as well.
It will be two lefty’s squaring off, as Chris Sale will go for the Bosox against JA Happ of the Yankees.
Game time is 7:05PM.
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