Incredible Pitching Performances Ignite the Yankees in Series Victory Over Rangers
The New York Yankees faced off against the Texas Rangers in Game one of a three game set and doubleheader. Gerrit Cole took the bump in this one. Cole was electric in this one. Cole threw six shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Unfortunately his pitch count was very high so it seemed as if Cole’s night was done after six. The Yankees took the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a Giancarlo Stanton sac fly to make it 1-0. Cole surprisingly took the mound to start the seventh with 105 pitches. Cole was trying to save the bullpen considering the Yanks are playing 23 games in 22 days and are in the midst of a doubleheader. The move backfired as Cole gave up a game tying homer to Kole Calhoun. Cole’s night ended after 6.1 innings with 10 strikeouts and one earned run. Jonathan Loaisiga then came in and threw 1.2 scoreless innings. Clay Holmes then threw a shutout ninth inning. Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at 1-1. Torres took a 3-1 pitch over the right field porch for a walkoff homerun. The Torres' walk off allowed the Yankees to grab Game one of the series and the doubleheader. Torres has been nothing but clutch even since his rookie season in 2018. He just has a knack for the clutch situation, and he leads the MLB in walk offs since 2018. Gerrit Cole and Gleyber Torres led the Yankees in this 2-1 win.
Jordan Montgomery got the start in game two of the three game set and game two of the doubleheader against the Rangers. The Yankees grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning with a two run homer off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton. The Rangers got on the board with a solo homer from Eli White in the sixth inning. Jordan Montgomery went back out for the seventh, but was pulled after giving up a leadoff hit. Monty’s night finished after six innings with five strikeouts and one earned run. Monty continues to give the Yankees nothing but quality starts every time out. Mike King came on for the Yankees. Mike King struggled in this one. He allowed the tying run to score on a wild pitch, and that run went in as an earned run for Montgomery. Later that inning King gave up a go-ahead home run to Brad Miller. The Rangers then led 4-2. Wandy Peralta came in after King and threw 1.2 scoreless innings. The Yankees were unable to plate any more runs across as they lose this one 4-2.
Nestor Cortes Jr toed the slab in the rubber match of the three game set against the Rangers. Cortes was the story in this one. He was absolutely unbelievable. He continues to pitch like one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he’s proving to everybody that his success is no fluke. Cortes had the Rangers offense off balance all game long. He had all of his pitches working and was truly incredible. Nestor was so outstanding that he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. He recorded a strikeout in the eighth, but he then gave up a base hit. Boone then pulled Cortes, and Cortes received quite the ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd. Clay Holmes came on and finished the inning. The only problem was the Yankee offense had been completely shut down. The Yankees had recorded no runs after seven innings, and the game was tied 0-0. Sadly Cortes was not eligible for the win.
The Yankees would make sure that they at least plated one run as in the bottom of the eighth inning Anthony Rizzo looped a double into left center, and Judge scored from first to take a 1-0 lead. Aroldis Chapman would come on and record the save as the Yankees take the rubber match of the series by a score of 1-0. Despite the quiet bats, the Yankees still clawed their way to grabbing two out of three in this series. This is the Yankees sixth series victory in a row, and next they face off against the Toronto Blue Jays in a two game set.
By : Riley Briggs