Yankees Were Terrific in All Three Phases During Victory over Nationals

The Yankees put together a complete performance Monday night as they opened their three-game series in Washington with a 5-2 victory that featured three homers but also some nice situational hitting, another fine outing from Nestor Cortes, and some sparkling defense. Yeah, this was one of those rare games where I really don’t have anything to complain about! Lets get to it.

Aug. 26: Yankees 5, Nationals 2

Even on a night when Aaron Judge “only” goes 1-for-4 with a walk and doesn’t score a run or drive one in, he steals the show.

In this victory over the Nationals, Judge made the defensive play of the game when he went back to the wall in left-center at Nationals Park and robbed Andres Chaparro of what would have been his first MLB home run. It would have tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning, but instead, the 6-foot-7 Judge leaped and made the catch, then fired a bullet to Gleyber Torres who relayed to first base to complete a dazzling double play. Holy shit, what a play. “I was pretty pumped up about that one,” Judge said.

“I called it his 52nd homer of the year,” Aaron Boone said with a smile. “He’s really good at this stuff. A night they keep him in the ballpark, he takes one back from the other side. It’s just a little reminder of how many other things he does well.”

Alex Verdugo, who made his own great catch banging into the wall in left field in the second inning, said of Judge’s grab, “I was running with him and I didn’t think there was going to be a chance. But he’s so big, and he got to the wall great.”

“When he jumped and caught it I was almost taken aback a little bit, like ‘Holy cow!’ That was crazy,” Austin Wells said. “It’s great to have a guy out there who can climb the walls and catch balls that might be going out. It’s just another plus to a guy who does it all, so it’s really special to watch out there.”

The plays Judge and Verdugo made, as well as a great pickoff at second base by Wells, highlighted an excellent night in the field for the Yankees. The only bad moment came in the fifth when third baseman Jazz Chisholm - who had two errors Sunday - made two more on the same play as he booted a grounder, then threw the ball away for a rare two-error play. But that wound up being the runner Wells picked off which helped preserve what was then a slim 2-0 lead.

The defense, plus home runs by Torres, Wells and Chisholm, supported Nestor Cortes who pitched his third straight outstanding game. Good night all around for the Yankees.

Here are my observations:

➤ I don’t know what is going on with Cortes, but he seems to have found some of that magic he had back in 2022. After back-to-back seven-inning scoreless outings, he almost made it three straight, this time going 6.2 innings and allowing just one run on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. With Cortes leading the way, the Yankees rotation - which had been struggling so much - has a 2.57 ERA in the last 16 games.

➤ It was too bad that Juan Yepez took him deep in the seventh inning because it snapped his scoreless streak at 20.1 innings, the longest of his career. I’m not sure why Boone sent him back out because in the sixth he got himself into quite a jam and worked his ass off to get out of it. The Nationals’ No. 8 and 9 hitters singled and doubled so it was second and third with no outs. Cortes then whiffed CJ Abrams and Dylan Crews before walking James Wood to load the bases.

➤ Boone had righty Mark Leiter warmed and ready and with righty Chaparro up, it seemed like the move to make. Instead, Boone showed zero confidence in Leiter - and I can’t blame him for that - and he let Cortes get out of his own mess which he did with a huge strikeout of Chaparro. However, it sure felt like he emptied the tank there and should have been done. Instead, Boone tried to steal a couple outs and that’s when Yepez homered.

➤ Leiter came in and got the last out of the seventh, but then in the eighth he served up a solo homer to Jacob Young, the No. 9 hitter. Leiter has been an abject disaster. He has pitched in 13 games since coming over from the Cubs and he has allowed runs in six of them and has allowed four home runs so his ERA is up to 6.35 as a Yankee. Boone had to yank him and Jake Cousins and Clay Holmes combined to retire five of the last six men to end it.

➤ What a weird night for the offense. Juan Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton went 1-for-13 with two walks, the lone hit being a ninth-inning double by Judge, the 1,000th hit of his career. But on this night, it was the guys who have been so bad who had the key at bats.

➤ In the fourth, Anthony Volpe doubled (he went 3-for-4), moved to third on a fly ball, and then used his speed and a great slide to score on a shallow fly ball to right by DJ LeMahieu. In the sixth, after Wells hit a solo homer to keep his roll going, Volpe singled and took second when Young misplayed the ball in center. He stole third and LeMahieu again came through with a sac fly. If only Volpe could do this more often because he’s so dynamic on the bases. And then in the eighth, Chisholm hit his first homer since coming off the injured list, the Yankees 206th of the year which leads MLB.

➤Baltimore was idle so the Yankees are now two games up and have won 18 of their last 27, best mark in the AL since July 27. And with the Orioles in Los Angeles the next three nights to start a West Coast trip, the Yankees have a huge opportunity to create some distance if they can keep taking care of business in this series and get some help from the Dodgers who have the best record in the National League.

⚾ I think the Red Sox might be done. At least I hope they are because they are the Red Sox after all. They got swept in a doubleheader by the Blue Jays who have been done for a while, losing the first game 4-1 which was a resumption from a weather-postposed game from June 26, then dropped the scheduled game 7-3. Boston catcher Danny Jansen started that game on June 26 as a member of the Blue Jays, but was traded a month later to the Red Sox and Boston manager Alex Cora used him so Jansen has a cool story to tell his grand kids that he played for both teams in a game. Unfortunately for him he struck out to end that first game.

The Red Sox have now lost five straight and at 67-64 they’re 10.5 games behind the Yankees but more pertinent for them, they’ve dropped five games behind the Twins in the race for the final wild-card spot. I’m not going to rule them out yet because they are such pains in the ass and they could get hot, but right now they looked cooked.

⚾ Speaking of teams that have hit the skids, the Guardians are in some trouble. They got swept in a doubleheader at home by the surging Royals 4-3 and 9-4 and thanks to a 3-7 stretch while Kansas City has gone 7-3, Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central is down to one game. They were ahead by 6.5 games when August started. Bobby Witt Jr. won the first game with a homer in the eighth, and in the nightcap, the Guardians opened a 3-0 lead but Salvador Perez hit a solo homer in the fifth and a grand slam in the sixth for the Royals and finished with six RBI.

⚾ The Phillies walked off the Astros 3-2 when Bryce Harper singled off closer Josh Hader and Kyle Schwarber just beat the throw home in the 10th inning to give the Phillies their third straight win. Anytime the Astros lose it’s a good night, and they saw their lead in the AL West shrink to 3.5 games over Seattle because the Mariners beat the Rays 5-1. As you know, it’s also a very good night in my world when the Rays lose. So, to recap, the Rays, Astros and Red Sox all lost. Pretty good.

⚾ The Cubs had quite a night in Pittsburgh as they evened their record at 66-66 and inched into second place in the NL Central, not that it matters because they trail the runaway Brewers by 10 games and they’re still 5.5 out in the wild-card race. But hey, a good night is a good night and this certainly was as they routed the Pirates 18-8. The Cubs had 21 hits and stole eight bases. Dansby Swanson hit a grand slam, Seiya Suzuki went 4-for-6, No. 9 hitter Miguel Amaya went 4-for-5 with four RBI, and Pete Crow-Armstrong had three hits and three stolen bases.

After Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller got drummed, the reliever who took over was none other than Domingo German. How did he do? He gave up eight earned runs on six hits and four walks in 2.2 innings. In five appearances since being called up from the minors, his ERA is 6.14.