Yankees 7, White Sox 3: Stanton’s slam settles sweep
Lucas Giolito made it through the first inning with his customary walk, but no other damage. The lack of runs usually foreshadows a decent outing.
But not tonight. Giolito walked Gleyber Torres on four pitches to start the second. He struck out Miguel Andujar, but then three straight singles tied the game at 2.
Giolito had a chance to right himself when he got ahead of Brett Gardner 1-2, but his curveball drilled Gardner in the foot and brought Giancarlo Stanton to the plate. Falling 3-0 was a bad idea, and throwing a middle-middle fastball on 3-2 was a worse one. Stanton hit it high to the opposite field. On some nights, it would’ve been a warning-track flyout. Tonight, it cleared the wall just on the inside of the foul pole for a game-breaking grand slam.
Giolito rebounded to at least get through five — not a guarantee since he exceeded 70 pitches through three — while allowing just a solo shot to Aaron Hicks. His ERA spiked back up above 6.00, though (6.23).
Coming back from four runs down was too tall a task when Luis Severino started for New York. Severino struggled coming into this evening, and the Sox made him look mortal early, but they couldn’t find the multiple additional runs to make it a ballgame.
Jose Abreu greeted him with an RBI double, scoring Yolmer Sanchez all the way from first. Daniel Palka then muscled a single into shallow center to score Abreu, making it 2-0 Sox after one.
But after the Yankees seized the lead, Tim Anderson’s opposite-field answer to Hicks’ homer in the fifth inning was the only other time the Sox could ding Severino. He ended up striking out eight over seven innings, allowing seven hits and walking nobody.
The Sox had a brief opening in the eighth, as Abreu walked and Palka singled him to third with two outs off Chad Green. Avisail Garcia couldn’t keep the rally alive, watching strike three on a fastball that looked just off the plate.
Bullet points:
*Yoan Moncada struck out two more times to give him 18 over his last 32 plate appearances, but he flipped an opposite-field single to make it merely a 2-for-29 slump.
*Anderson committed his 15th error of the single rushing a charging play, but it didn’t do any damage.
*Jeanmar Gomez and Hector Santiago were the only relievers needed, and an off day tomorrow will allow the bullpen to fully reset.
*The Yankees swiped two bases off Kevan Smith, who is now 0-for-29 against baserunners this season.
*Bruce Dreckman had to leave his post at second base in the ninth inning after a moth flew in his ear. He returned to the field a batter later.
Record: 41-73 | Box score
Pestilence shows up in the story of the forty years wandering in the desert, so the rebuild is on track.
15th error of the single….
Some observations. In the first 2 innings Giolito struggled badly with his command. He was hoping the pitches would go where he wanted, but he had no idea if they actually would. That said, Severino was getting a number of borderline calls and Giolito wasn’t. I don’t know if that was pitcher reputation or catcher presentation.
The leadoff walk was awful in the second, but none of those singles were hit well. Hitting Gardner on a 1-2 pitch was unforgivable. Then that grand slam was the lamest grand slam I’ve ever seen. Terrible pitch, but it barely cleared and it barely stayed fair. Giolito sucked last night, not an uncommon occurrence for him this year, but with a little luck last night, he might have gotten out of there with 0-3 runs scored.
I turned it off after the homer. I can’t take much more of this, knowing they have better players available that they refuse to call up.
Was sitting in my seat in right field corner and a Yankee fan sitting next to me agreed with your sentiment on the slam as do I.
I haven’t watched since they refused to bring up Eloy and kopech after the deadline. I agree with Steve’s last paragraph. They have better players they refuse to call up. Did anyone really think Adam Engel was going to hit the ball off Severino yesterday? He is not a major leaguer hitter and never will be.
Again, Giolito’s struggles were not the hits and the cheap homer. It was the leadoff walk and the HBP on a 1-2 count. If he can get his command, especially early in the game, he could be good,.
The most interesting aspect of last night’s game was the Stanton HR barely clearing the fence that says 335 ft yet it was measured at 367 ft. Anyone know how the distances are measured?
An automatic Mike Stanton Bonus of 25 feet is applied. Conversely if Adam Engel had hit that same ball, the Mike Stanton Penalty of 25 feet would have applied. They would have had to rule the ball didn’t clear the fence and was therefore a ground rule fly out.