Few Things Are More Enjoyable Than a Series Win Over the Rays

The Yankees won yet another series - their 10th this season out of 13 - and this one was obviously sweet as it came against the Rays, a team that, you all know by now, I despise. Sunday was quite a win, with the bullpen nearly blowing a huge lead, but the Yankees got it done and improved to 27-15 to pull within a half-game of the Orioles. Lets get to it.

Gleyber Torres certainly picked the right time to finally do something at the plate with that huge three-run eighth-inning homer he hit Sunday that enabled the Yankees to regain their balance after an incredible bullpen meltdown in the seventh very nearly cost them the game.

This has been an utterly disastrous start to the season for Torres. Even after his home run, his slash line still reads like an overwhelmed Triple-A player - .208/.289/.273 with an OPS of .562. His OPS ranks 155th out of 168 qualified batters this season.

It has been maddening watching him waste at bat after at bat, and repeatedly fail in key situations, just a black hole in the lineup.

Aaron Boone finally read the tea leaves Saturday and didn’t start him, but he did use him later in the game and he predictably went 0-for-2. For most of Sunday when he was back in, it was more of the same as he flied out in the second, struck out in the fourth, and popped out in the sixth.

But in the eighth, just minutes after the Rays had scored five runs to turn a 6-0 laugher into a 6-5 nail-biter, this happened: Giancarlo Stanton singled, Anthony Rizzo doubled, and Torres launched a bomb to left that produced a huge exhale in Yankee nation. It was his best at bat of the season because he quickly fell behind taking two called strikes, fouled off two to stay alive, and took two balls before getting a pitch middle up from Shawn Armstrong.

That home run gave the Yankees much-needed breathing room at 9-5 and while Torres is a long way from being fixed, let’s hope this single at bat helps him get things turned around because the Yankees need him. When he’s right, like he was most of 2023, he can be an impactful player on offense.

“I was fighting and just tried to put the ball in play,” Torres said. “Get a fly ball or anything to score one run, especially in that situation during the game. … Especially in the moment, it feels so good because I do something for the team. … Everybody was happy and that feels way better. The homer, I feel like I did something for the team.”

Boone contends that Torres remains upbeat and has been working hard, which is why it was nice to finally see something positive come from that.

“When you’re grinding in this game, even with the success you’ve had as a hitter like Gleyber, it’s tough,” Boone said. “It can be a grind. You just gotta keep working and going with it. And that was a big, big blow to kind of allow us to exhale a little bit after they pressured us.”

May 10: Yankees 2, Rays 0

The Lead: Clarke Schmidt’s finest performance

The talent has never been a question regarding the Yankees’ first-round draft pick in 2017. Schmidt has always had great stuff, a nice pitch mix that includes a sinker, cutter, slider and knuckle-curve. The issue with Schmidt is that he’s a nibbler who has often struggled to put hitters away.

He’ll get ahead in the count, then start working the edges and big league hitters know this about him and they let him work himself into even or deficit counts, all the while driving his pitch total up which leads to early exits. You know all this, I’m just reiterating.

But Friday night, Schmidt came right at the Rays and he dominated them, resulting in the best and longest outing of his career. He went 6.2 scoreless innings and allowed just five singles and two walks while striking out six. And he probably could have gone longer because Boone pulled him at 87 pitches with a man on first and two outs, a move that - like many that Boone makes - seemed kind of needless.

“It’s just one of those things where it’s the next puzzle piece in learning how to get better as a starting pitcher,” said Schmidt. “We feel like we’re continuing to move that needle and get better and better. We felt like we were getting closer and closer and tonight was a big accomplishment as far as that goes. It’s just the beginning.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Schmidt was relieved by Nick Burdi who was reinstated to the roster after a brief stint on the IL. Burdi threw only two pitches before Isaac Paredes tried to steal second but over-slid the bag and was tagged out to end the seventh. What a stupid play that was. Luke Weaver then pitched a perfect 12-pitch eighth, opening the door to a shaky to say the least ninth from Clay Holmes.

➤ After several appearances where he was dominant - so much so that I stopped calling him Cardiac Clay for a few weeks - Holmes was back to pumping our hearts in this one. Walk, strikeout, walk, strikeout (thanks to a very questionable called third strike), and a single to load the bases before he finally whiffed Jonny DeLuca on a 2-2 pitch to end it. Jeez, that was uncomfortable to watch.

➤ Rizzo provided what little offense there was. Taj Bradley made his season debut for the Rays and he was excellent which is not good news for the Yankees. The Rays are starting to get back some of their injured pitchers and I would expect them to start making progress in the standings. The only time Bradley was in trouble was the fourth when Aaron Judge walked, took third on a Stanton single, and scored on Rizzo’s single to left. Bradley completed six innings allowing just four hits and two walks. The other run came on Rizzo’s homer in the ninth off Shawn Armstrong.

➤ Jon Berti started at third and he had two hits and a stolen base while also starting a double play in the field. Jose Trevino, Stanton and Rizzo also had two hits each while Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo each struck out three times.

May 11: Rays 7, Yankees 2

The Lead: Worst day of the season so far

Every loss sucks. On this there is no dispute. Two of the worst that come to mind this year were blowing leads and getting walked off by the Guardians on April 14 and the Brewers on April 26. But when you pair a one-sided loss on a day when the Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox all win, that’s why this was the worst day of the season.

It didn’t take long to get the sense that Saturday was not going to go well when Nestor Cortes’ first pitch was rifled over the wall in left-center by the ultimate Yankee killer, Yandy Diaz. Cortes continued the inconsistent pattern that has defined him since the start of 2023 and if it keeps going this way, he might be the starter who gets sent to the bullpen when Gerrit Cole returns, hopefully in a month, because it certainly shouldn’t be Luis Gil.

Cortes gave up three more runs in the third, then settled down a bit and at least made it into the sixth before Boone pulled him, but his final line of four runs allowed on five hits and three walks was poor and he became the first Yankee starter to see his ERA creep over 4.00.

Game notes and observations:

➤ Diaz and Randy Arozarena would be Hall of Fame candidates if they faced the Yankees every night. These guys have done jack shit all season, except when they face New York pitching. Diaz is the defending AL batting champ but he started the series hitting .228 with one home run. In the first two games he went 5-for-7 with a walk and hit his second home run, spiking his average up to .250. Arozarena started the series hitting .147 and then went down to .143 with an 0-for-4 Friday, but in this game he had two hits including a go-ahead three-run homer off Cortes in the third that made it 4-2, of course with Diaz aboard after he had doubled.

➤ It stayed 4-2 until the seventh when Dennis Santana and Ian Hamilton combined to allow three blow-it-open runs. Santana gave up back-to-back RBI doubles to Diaz and Arozarena, and Hamilton came on and yielded a single and a sacrifice fly by Paredes for the final run.

➤ Volpe was the only Yankee who did anything with the bat on a feeble day against Rays starter Zach Littell and four relievers. In the second, Rizzo walked, Austin Wells doubled and Trent Grisham walked (wow, Littell must have been kicking himself for walking that guy) to load the bases. Volpe followed with a two-run single that put the Yankees up 2-1. He later singled and stole second in the fifth, and singled in the seventh, but no one else helped him.

➤ Volpe had three of the Yankees’ five hits, the others came from Wells and Berti, and they drew only two walks.

➤ Juan Soto is in his first slump as a Yankee. He went 0-for-4 and by the end of Saturday he was hitless in his last 12 plate appearances with only two walks. And Verdugo has been even worse. Through Saturday he was in an 0-for-16 dive and his average has plummeted to .243, and Boone gave him Sunday off.

May 12: Yankees 10, Rays 6

The Lead: Bullpen nearly ruined Luis Gil’s masterpiece

Luis Gil was outstanding as he threw six scoreless innings and allowed just three hits and two walks. He wasn’t overpowering as the Rays put the ball in play against him and he struck out only two, but only three Rays touched second base against him.

“He’s on the attack the whole time,” catcher Jose Trevino said. “He doesn’t give in to anybody. It doesn’t matter who you are, he’s trying to attack you with every single pitch. I think he’s doing a good job of that and he did a good job of that today.”

Had Gerrit Cole not gotten hurt, there was a very real chance that Gil would have been in Triple-A to start the season. Instead, he has been the Yankees best starter. He has pitched eight games, gone 4-1 with a 2.51 ERA and 1.090 WHIP, and hitters are batting a sickly .144 against him.

“I was able to get a lot of outs today,” Gil said. “When you look back, being able to get through the sixth, that’s a really important part for me.”

Gil is the first Yankees pitcher to throw six-plus innings and allow one run or fewer in at least three straight starts since Cole did it in 2022.

Game notes and observations:

➤ All that great work by Gil was nearly undone by putrid performances from Caleb Ferguson and Nick Burdi in the seventh. What the living hell was that? Ferguson had just started to turn things around, or so we thought, with seven straight scoreless outings, but he was awful and his ERA soared to a team-worst 6.43. He faced five men, four reached bases and they all scored on No. 9 hitter Jose Siri’s grand slam. Yeah, a grand slam by a guy who was hitting .170. Then Burdi came in and here was his contribution: walk, walk, hit batsmen. Done.

➤ So with the bases loaded and one out, Boone turned to Luke Weaver who has been a godsend this season. Seriously, outside of Holmes, Weaver has been the best reliever on the team. His outing didn’t start great as he plunked Paredes to force in the fifth run, but then he came up huge by retiring Richie Palacios and Amed Rosario to keep the Yankees in the lead. And then, after they regained control with four runs in the eighth, Weaver pitched a 1-2-3 inning to keep things in line. Of course Ian Hamilton, who continues to stink, gave up a run in the ninth because Diaz had to put his finger print on the game with a leadoff homer, and Arozarena later singled, but Hamilton eventually struck out the last two men to end it.

➤ Enough about the pitching. This was quite a day with the bats as the Yankees swatted five home runs. For openers, Volpe led off the first with a triple and scored on Soto’s sac fly. Then came the long balls. Jahmai Jones, who started in place of the slumping Verdugo, hit a solo shot in the third, the first of his MLB career. In the fourth, Rizzo singled and with two outs Trevino hit a two-run shot to make it 4-0. Then in the fifth, Soto singled and Judge ripped a two-run bomb for a 6-0 lead.

➤ After the bullpen meltdown, the Yankees came back with a tremendous response in the eighth with Torres’ three-run blast and Trevino’s second of the game, a solo shot that made it 10-5.

➤ The Yankees were thrilled for Jones. His spot on the roster is tenuous at best and he has batted just 10 times this season while starting only two games, but Boone and the players apparently love him for his attitude and energy on the bench. His father, Andre Jones, played linebacker at Notre Dame and briefly in the NFL for the Lions, but he died of a brain aneurysm in 2011 when Jahmai was in high school, leaving his mother to raise five children. So Jones hitting his first MLB homer on Mother’s Day was pretty cool. “Going through that, she had to take on a lot of different things to keep everything as normal as it could be,” Jones said. “Without her, I wouldn’t be here, for sure. Getting to be in the lineup with the Yankees is special in itself, but doing it on Mother’s Day is something I’ll never forget. My mom means a lot to me, and we’ve been through a lot together. I can’t wait to give her a call.”

The Yankees get Monday off as they travel up to Minnesota to face one of the hottest teams in MLB.

The Twins had served as a punching bag for the Yankees pretty much since the 21st century began. Last year was the first time since 2001 that the Twins won the season series against the Yankees, and now in 2024, Rocco Baldelli’s team looks perfectly capable of doing that again.

Minnesota started the year 7-13 but then reeled off 12 wins in a row, and after taking two of three from the Blue Jays, the Twins have won 17 of their last 20 and are within a half-game of the Guardians in the surprisingly competitive AL Central.

What’s weird about the Twins is they’re middle of the road in team stats for both hitting and pitching. They haven’t done anything great, but they’ve done a lot of things well. One thing that must be noted is they’ve beat up on two shitty teams as they are 7-0 against the White Sox and 3-0 against the Angels. Against everyone else, they’re 14-16 including 0-3 against the first-place Orioles and 0-2 against the first-place Guardians. Now they get the Yankees whose 27 wins are tops in the AL.

The pitching matchups are as follows: Tuesday at 7:40 on YES it’s Carlos Rodon (3.56 ERA) against Chris Paddack (4.34); Wednesday at 7:40 on Amazon Prime it’s Marcus Stroman (3.80) against Pablo Lopez (3.89); and Thursday at 1:10 p.m. on YES it’s Clarke Schmidt (2.95) against Joe Ryan (3.21).