Fresh off a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the New York Yankees welcomed Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler and the Detroit Tigers to the Bronx Friday night.
The Yankees handed the ball off to the recently revitalized CC Sabathia in hopes that he would continue his sharpness on the mound and keep the wave of momentum going.
As fate would have it, the surfing continued for the Bombers. Off the back of seven strong shutout innings of baseball, Sabathia cruised through the usually potent Tigers lineup while the Yankee offense was able to juice some runs out against Mike Pelfrey as Didi Gregorius, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann got in on the action.
By night’s end, New York was over the .500 mark again after picking up a 4-0 victory.
The Play: Didi doubles ‘em in (+.117 WPA)
Facing an 0-1 count with the bases loaded, Gregorius would lace a double to left field. In showing some opposite field hitting abilities, Gregorius’s base knock would plate across two runs as Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez scored on the hit that sailed over Justin Upton’s head. Although the Tigers outfielder would gun Brian McCann down at home afterwards to atone for it, this two-run hit would be the most pivotal of the entire night.
Notes
– CC Sabathia continues to excel on the mound. Following this outing, Sabathia now holds a 2.28 ERA in 59.1 innings pitched this season. Although his peripherals indicate he’s getting a bit lucky, his pitching of late is still a pleasant sight to behold and one that is much-needed in a rotation that has been somewhat inconsistent aside from the dealings of Masahiro Tanaka. There’s no telling if Sabathia will continue his efforts but few pitchers have been better than him since the beginning of May and that’s all that the Yankees could ask for.
– The Yankees moved to the above .500 mark with the victory as they improve to 31-30 on the year. This is the first time that they have been at that point since April 13 when they were 4-3.
– Didi Gregorius was responsible for two of the four runs plated on Friday night and would go 2-for-3 at the plate. Going into the night this continued a solid stretch of play for him as he’s hit .311 with an OBP of .347 and an OPS of .725 over the last 28 days according to Baseball-Reference
– Carlos Beltran continued his hit parade with a two-hit night. Although he did not record any XBH, his SLG still stands higher than anyone else’s on the team at .571 and he recorded his 44th RBI on the year, also the highest mark of any on the team.
The Highlight: Beltran belts in #44
Up Next
The Yankees and Tigers will meet again Saturday night on the corner of River and 161st. Masahiro Tanaka (3-1, 2.76 ERA) will be on the bump for the pinstripes while multiple-time Cy Young Award winner and 2011 AL MVP winner Justin Verlander will oppose the Yankees’ ace.
Photo: Adam Hunger/USA Today Sports; Videos: MLBAM