Led by Aaron Judge and Luis Gil, Yankees Had a May to Remember

The Yankees continued to roll as they swept the Giants and finished off a spectacular West Coast road trip with a 7-2 record, the first time they’ve won all three series of a West Coast trip since 1998. At 42-19, they now have the best record in MLB and lead the Orioles by three games in the AL East. Let’s get to it.

June has certainly gotten off to a great start, but what a shame that May is now over because wow, that was quite a month for the Yankees.

They went 21-7, winning seven series and splitting one four-gamer with the AL West-leading Mariners, and outscored their opponents 135-73. While the jump in the standings wasn’t huge - they began May behind Baltimore by a game and ended it three ahead - that’s only because the Orioles are so damn good and aren’t going anywhere, no matter how hot the Yankees stay.

The Yankees’ 135 runs were actually only fifth-best in MLB for the month, but they led everyone in home runs (47), slugging percentage (.470) and OPS (.800), and were third in average (.261) and on-base percentage (.330).

Of course, a huge reason for that offensive production centered on No. 99, Aaron Judge, who undoubtedly will be named AL player of the month. I’m not sure Judge has ever had a month like this, not even during his 62-homer season in 2022.

He had 26 extra-base hits (MLB-best 14 home runs, 12 doubles) and only Joe DiMaggio has ever had more in a month when he had 31 in May 1937. Think about that for a second. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Alex Rodriguez never did that.

In comparison to the rest of MLB, Judge led in OPS at 1.415 (next best was 1.061), on-base percentage at .488 (next-best was .447), and slugging at .928 (next best was .686), and was second in average at .371 (only Luis Arraez was better at .389), and second in RBIs with 27 (Jose Ramirez of the Guardians had 31).

Judge ended April with a .207 average and ended May at .282. His OBP went from .340 to .408, his slugging from .414 to .648, and his OPS from .757 to 1.056. Unbelievable, really, even for Judge.

“What Judgey’s doing is pretty incredible right now,” said Marcus Stroman. “I just think we all need to witness - we almost take it for granted each and every day. But it’s truly, truly incredible what he’s doing.”

Yes, but the same could be said about the starting pitching which put up a cumulative 2.07 ERA and a 0.937 WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) across 28 May starts split between Stroman, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Carlos Rodon, and Nestor Cortes. Again, unbelievable.

Gil was otherworldly, and like Judge, MLB will almost certainly honor him as the AL pitcher of the month. He made six starts, won them all, and gave up just 14 hits and 12 walks for a WHIP of 0.672. With just three earned runs in 38.2 innings, his ERA was 0.70 and he struck out 10.9 batters per nine innings. It was one of the greatest months any Yankee starter has ever had.

Ron Guidry in 1978, the year he went 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA and 0.946 WHIP to win the AL Cy Young, was close to Gil in September/October as he went 6-1 with a 1.19 ERA, a 0.755 WHIP, and maybe we have to give Guidry the edge because that came in the heat of a torrid division race. His last start came in the one-game division-deciding game at Fenway Park which he won thanks in large part to Bucky Dent’s home run.

Even starting 2-0 with a dramatic come-from-behind rally Sunday in San Francisco, June is going to have to work hard to top May.

“I know we’ve got something special in that room,” Aaron Boone said. “Where that takes us? We’ll see.”

May 31: Yankees 6, Giants 2

The Lead: A wonderful welcome home for Judge

Judge grew up in Northern California and as a kid he attended many games at Oracle Park and rooted for Barry Bonds, Rich Aurelia (who he said was his favorite player) and the rest of the Giants, but he had never played a game at the ballpark as a professional. The only other time the Yankees have been to San Francisco since Judge’s debut was in 2019, and he missed that series with an injury.

So this was already a special night for him with many friends and family members in attendance, and then he made it extra special as he launched a pair of home runs to lead the Yankees to their 14th win in the last 18 games, and raised his season total to 20 which now leads MLB.

“You dream about it in the backyard, playing around a little bit,” Judge said. “Rounding the bases, I looked out to left field, being in those bleachers a couple of times. It just brought back some memories. This is a special place. I grew up a Giants fan and loved coming to games out here. It’s pretty cool, being on the opposite side of the field.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ One night after the rotation’s streak of 16 straight games of at least five innings and fewer than two runs allowed was snapped, Stroman added another of those games to the season total. He went 7.1 innings and gave up two runs on six hits and two walks before Luke Weaver came on and got the final five outs without allowing a run.

➤ Stroman gave up a run in the second on two singles and a sacrifice fly, and the Giants scored again in the sixth as Stroman walked Trenton Brooks and got dinged for an RBI double Mike Yastrzemski. In between those runs, though, the Yankees put up six to take control.

➤ In the third, Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto singled and Judge hit a three-run bomb to left. And then in the sixth, Judge led off with a solo homer to center before the Yankees tacked on. Gleyber Torres singled, ending Giants starter Jordan Hicks’ night. Taylor Rogers came in and slumping Anthony Rizzo doubled off the wall in right-center, his first extra-base hit since May 12. Here, with Austin Wells batting, catcher Patrick Bailey was charged with a passed ball. Torres scored and when Rogers fumbled Bailey’s throw back to the plate, Rizzo alertly sprinted home for a second run on the play. “That was pretty cool,” the slow-footed Rizzo said. “That’s definitely something I’ll make sure the guys hear about throughout the year.”

June 1: Yankees 7, Giants 3

The Lead: Cody Poteet delivers again

Clarke Schmidt goes on the injured list and the Yankees simply call up Poteet and he gives them five decent enough innings to key another win. The righty allowed just three runs (two earned) on three hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Folks, any team would take that in a heartbeat from a guy who has spent most of the year at Triple-A, and Poteet has now done this twice.

He was terrific in his only other start in beating Cleveland, and now he might just stay with the Yankees and replace Schmidt, at least until Gerrit Cole is ready to return, hopefully by the end of the month.

“Sad to see (Schmidt) go down, such an incredible pitcher and was rolling just like the rest of the staff right now,” Poteet said. “But I’m not looking too far ahead, just taking it a day at a time and trying to get better each day and enjoy being around so many great players.”

“Overall, I thought he pitched with a lot of confidence, I thought he was on the attack,” Boone said. “I thought he did a good job with his four-seam and his two-seam. Gave us what we needed.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Through Sunday, Volpe and Judge both have 29-game on-base streaks and Judge kept his alive in the first inning, winning a nine-pitch battle with Giants ace Logan Webb before crushing a 464-foot homer to left after Soto had walked to get the Yankees off to a great start.

➤ Volpe kept his streak going in the third as he followed a LeMahieu single with a double to left. Soto’s sac fly scored one, and after the Giants intentionally walked Judge, Verdugo singled to left to score Volpe for a 4-0 lead. It’s been so much fun to watch this team manufacture runs the way they have.

➤ Poteet had a wobble in the bottom of the third when he walked Brooks and then gave up a two-run homer to Casey Schmitt, but he retired the next six men he faced before his next trouble in the fifth. There, Heliot Ramos singled to short and took second when Volpe threw the ball way over Rizzo’s head. Ramos took third on a fly ball and scored on a single by Brett Wisely and suddenly it was 4-3. But Poteet got the final out, then turned it over to the bullpen and Ian Hamilton, Caleb Ferguson, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes closed it out.

➤ As usual, Ferguson made his inning interesting with a walk and a single, but he got Wisely to end the seventh. And as has been the case lately, Holmes wasn’t clean in the ninth as he gave up a walk and a double before getting Schmitt to end it.

➤ However, Holmes’ trouble wasn’t worrisome because in the eighth the Yankees blew the game open. With two outs, Judge singled, Verdugo tripled him home, and Giancarlo Stanton lined a two-run homer to left. It all happened so fast in the span of seven pitches, the Giants probably couldn’t believe it.

June 2: Yankees 7, Giants 5

The Lead: Soto provides ninth-inning drama

On a day when it just felt like Boone was punting the finale of the series and was content to go home with a 6-3 road trip, his players refused to accept that fate. So even after Boone paraded out the mop up men in the bullpen - Dennis Santana, Victor Gonzalez, and Michael Tonkin - the Yankees still found a way to win.

Santana was lousy, but Gonzalez got the one man he faced, then Tonkin held steady for two innings, long enough for the Yankees to get off the deck trailing 5-3 and put up four runs in the ninth off one of the best closers in MLB, Camilo Doval.

“Throughout the whole inning, guys were just having great at-bats,” said Judge. “If they didn’t get a pitch, just pass it to the next guy and the next guy came up big. We felt like we were never out of the game. I can go back over the years how many times we probably lose that game. Teams bring in their closer up two runs and we kind of go 1-2-3. But this team’s different.”

Sure is, and one of the biggest reasons why is Soto. He had hit a solo homer in the first to get the Yankees started, but he saved his best for the ninth, a two-run bomb that nearly made it to McCovey Cove out beyond right field which put the Yankees up 6-5. It was one of the biggest moments of the season.

“We’re having a great time, we’re having great moments,” Soto said. “We’ve been playing great baseball. Really happy to come over here and keep doing what we’ve been doing since Day 1.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ The Yankees seemed dead, but this was a ninth inning to savor. Torres led off with a single and then came one of the biggest plays. Jose Trevino grounded one to short and he was just able to avoid the double play which would have been a killer. That was such a key play, one of those little things that often gets overlooked, but Trevino’s hustle probably saved the day. “Just give everything I have,” Trevino said. “Obviously, I know who’s hitting behind me and I know how important it is for those guys to get up to the plate.” Volpe then tripled into the gap in right-center to score Trevino, and Soto followed by crushing a 1-0 pitch to give the Yankees the lead.

➤ And they weren’t done which was nice because one-run leads are so tenuous. Judge walked, stole second and scored on a double Stanton. That gave the Yankees an inning cycle - single, double, triple, homer - in the span of six batters. A Verdugo single and a wild pitch put men on second and third, but LeMahieu and Rizzo both made outs to end the inning.

➤ The last time the Yankees had an inning cycle was 2019, but the last in the ninth or later came on Sept. 8, 1980 against Toronto: Bobby Murcer double, Oscar Gamble triple, Bob Watson single, Rick Cerone home run which resulted in four ninth-inning runs and a 7-4 victory.

➤ Holmes pitched a rare 1-2-3 inning for him, setting the Giants down on 12 pitches to end it. Tonkin deserves a lot of credit, though. He is the very definition of the losing end mop up guy, but he pitched two scoreless innings allowing just a hit and a walk. Had anything gone wrong while he was out there, the Yankees most likely don’t win.

➤Bad day for Nestor Cortes. Three runs on seven hits in just 4.1 innings, and it seemed like every hit was smoked, and so were a few of the outs. He wasn’t fooling anyone out there and it was the shortest Yankee start in 19 games. Once again, Cortes was terrible on the road, and that’s a problem. His home ERA is 1.12 with a .170 batting average against; on the road it’s 6.17 with a .295 average against.

➤ Not to be lost, but with the Yankees down 3-1, Verdugo ripped a two-out, two-run tying double in the fifth following singles by Volpe and Soto and a walk to Stanton.

➤ Boone had plenty of injury updates over the weekend. Gerrit Cole will be pitching his first rehab game Tuesday at Double-A Somerset; Jasson Dominguez is almost ready to head to Triple-A Scranton and is even playing a little in the field which is a great sign coming off his Tommy John surgery; and Scott Effross, who would be a nice addition to the bullpen, is getting close to pitching rehab games.

The Yankees flew home from the West Coast and will take Monday off before opening a six-game homestand that starts with a three-game series against the Twins and ends with a highly-anticipated three-gamer against the Dodgers. But first, Minnesota.

In mid-May the Yankees went to Target Field and bludgeoned the Twins, sweeping three games by a combined 14-1. And at that time, the Twins were one of the hottest teams in MLB having won 17 of 20 going into that meeting.

The Twins ultimately lost seven in a row, but they have regained their mojo and gone 9-3 since including a series victory over the weekend in Houston. They’re now 33-26 and six games behind the Guardians in the AL Central. Third baseman Royce Lewis, who I just watched four times last week here in Rochester while he was rehabbing, is set to return to the Twins lineup, though he didn’t hit a lick in Rochester.

The pitching matchups are as follows: Tuesday at 7:05 on YES it’s Luis Gil (1.99) against Bailey Ober (4.89); Wednesday at 7:05 on Amazon Prime it’s Carlos Rodon (3.09) against Chris Paddack (4.57); and Thursday at 7:05 on YES it’s Marcus Stroman (2.73) against Pablo Lopez (4.84).