New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles: Series Recap

Game 1: 9/14/21, 7:10 PM (Yanks win 7-2)

Yanks take game 1 in convincing fashion in bird land behind 5 homers living up to their “Bronx Bombers” nickname. Gerrit Cole was great as he tossed 5 innings only allowing 1 run, he labored a bit so removing him after 5 was the smart idea. Mike King came in relief and was excellent throwing 3 shutout innings. Judge got things started early in the 1st with a 2-run blast scoring LeMehieu. He’s homered 4 times in 3 games as he’s been heating up again. Yankees struck for 3 more in the 3rd on 2 swings, Stanton smashed a 2-run homer and Voit followed right up with a long solo shot of his own. In the 8th, Gallo would mash a solo shot of his own putting him tied with Judge and several others for 6th in the league with 34 homers. LeMahieu went yard in the 9th to tie his total from last years 10 homers. Sal Romano pitched the 9th and was awful so unfortunately Chapman had to be used while up 7-2. That’s very frustrating. Cole picked up the win while Wells took the loss.

Game 2: 9/15/21, 7:10 PM (Yanks win 4-3)

Yanks rally in the 9th and comeback to win a game they had to win. Nestor Cortes, Tyler Wade, and Gardner were the stars of this one. Cortes tossed 6.1 innings allowing 1 run and striking out a career high 11, he lowered his ERA to a excellent 2.60 in 79.2 total innings this season. I think he’s locked himself into a possibly 2 or 3 starter for next season. NY jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Urshela launched a 2-run blast, his first homer since July 4th against the Mets, granted he spent a lot of that time on the IL. The Yankees held a slim 2-1 lead heading into the 8th, but Chad Green came in and served up a 2-run homer to Hays. Green is gassed, he’s pretty much at his career high in innings just needing 1 more out to accomplish that feat. It’s hard to be mad at him with how often he’s asked to pitched. With the Yanks down to their final 3 outs trailing 3-2, Voit led off the inning with a single and immediately got pinch ran for with Tyler Wade. Torres blooped a single to make it 2 on with nobody out, with Gardy up to bat Yanks pulled off a double steal to give Gardy 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, with the infield in Brett blooped a go ahead 2-run single to give them a 4-3 and that sealed the deal. What a finish. Although games against the O’s shouldn’t come to 9th inning rallies but we’ll take the win. Peralta got the win while Wells took another loss and Chapman with the save.

Game 3: 9/16/21, 5:10 PM (O’s win 3-2)

Yanks lose game 3 and continue to not be able to sweep teams title this season. Despite being 1 strike away from a sweep, a Holmes wild pitch tied the game and the O’s would eventually walk it off. The only 2 runs for the Yanks came from a solo homer by Gallo and an RBI double by Urshela. The pitching was great, Montgomery was great, he tossed 5.2 innings of 1 run ball and striking out 12. He was in like for the win but Holmes failed him, NY hasn’t given Monty run support all season and I really feel bad for him as he’s having his best season of his career. Holmes was forced to try to get 6 outs for a save but ultimately couldn’t as he looked kinda gassed, he’s not use to that so it is tough to blame him but you can’t throw a wild pitch and force in the tying run. Also the extra inning rule is the dumbest thing on the planet, it’s not baseball. Nothing else to say but this is an awful loss. Peralta took the loss while Sulser got the win.

My thoughts:

Pretty embarrassing not to sweep such a bad team like this but it’s also hard not to be at least satisfied with taking 2/3. Gotta continue to win games and keep pushing for a playoff birth. Easy schedule the next week or so then it gets very tricky with nightmare matchups against teams who have killed us this season.

What’s next?

The O’s head to Boston for a 3 game set (please win Baltimore) while the Yanks head back home for a 6 game home stand starting with the Cleveland Indians in what should be at least 2/3. Go Yanks.