The Yankees bats finally came to play this weekend, as this was easily their best offensive showing of the season. The Yanks would put up 19 total runs off of 29 hits since Friday, overwhelming the Guardians pitching through most of it. The Yankees received tremendous run support from recent breakout Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who boasted 4 RBI through the entire series. We also would see many bats start to come to life, as Aaron Judge had a monster Friday night showing, going 2-for-3 with two home runs and 3 RBIs while also drawing a walk. Saturday would see the bats of Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres come to life, as Donaldson launched his second home run of the season to the center-field wall, and Torres would hit a walk-off, pinch-hit single to drive in the game-winning run for the Yankees. The matchup Sunday would be all-out mayhem for the Yankees. They put up a 10-spot on the Guardians, with DJ LeMahieu, Tim Locastro, Anthony Rizzo, Aaron Hicks, Joey Gallo, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa would all be responsible for driving in the runs for the bombers. Rizzo, DJ, and Locastro would all go yard, combining for 7 of the 10 RBIs on the Yankee lineup Sunday afternoon.
The pitching had a much-needed dominant weekend. The pitching has been exceptional as of late, but pitchers such as Jameson Taillon, Nestor Cortes Jr, and Gerrit Cole went into this series with one win or less under their belts. Taillon and Cole both walked away with their first wins of the season. Though Cortes Jr. would leave his start with a no-decision, he would still toss 6-⅓ innings, allowing just two runs and striking out eight, walking two. Yankee pitching combined for 34 strikeouts, five walks, 19 hits, and a 2.58 ERA for the series.
Offensively, the Yankees needed a showing like this desperately. Almost every bat available was involved with the play this weekend, and it was a genuine team effort in a critical series sweep this early into the season. There are still bats that need to wake up (looking at you, Mr. Gallo), but hopefully, this offensive spark is enough to get him jumpstarted into something good. Giancarlo is another player who needs to get going, but fortunately for him, a lot of his issue is finding the gaps in the field, as he is making hard contact with the ball, just to the wrong places.
Assuming all goes to plan, the upcoming series with Baltimore will show Luis Severino, Jordan Montgomery, and Jameson Taillon to the O’s. These three pitchers have had above-average showings for most of the year thus far, so combine this with the existing offensive momentum generated this weekend. Yankee fans should be in for another great series to come.
