As Sonny Gray walked off the mound in Game 4, the FS1 cameras (cameras also brought to you by Camping World) caught the Yankees starter cracking a wry smile. Perhaps Joe Girardi had said something funny as he signalled for David Robertson to enter the game. Perhaps he was laughing at the strange circumstances that led to him exiting one of the biggest games of his life in the 5th inning despite having allowed only one hit. Maybe he couldn’t help but smile at the absurdity of his teams not scoring him a single run in over 21 career postseason innings.
Or maybe he was smiling because somehow he had a feeling that none of the many miscues and misfortunes that befell the Yankees in this game would matter in the end.
Starlin Castro mishandling a Carlos Correa grounder in the 4th inning wouldn’t matter, and neither would this Brian McCann grounder – which mishandled Starlin Castro and plated a run:
Aaron Judge missing second base on his way back to first on a flyout, then being called safe on review and trying unsuccessfully to spoil the Astros’ appeal to second by stealing the base wouldn’t matter at all.
Josh Reddick becoming the first player in ALCS history to reach on catcher’s interference, subsequently forcing Girardi to remove Gray early wouldn’t matter in the slightest.
David Robertson walking the first batter he faced and then hanging an offspeed pitch in the zone to Yuli Gurriel for a bases-clearing double wouldn’t even matter.
None of these strange, unfortunate happenings would end up hurting the Yankees because their best players, the catalysts for their improbable success in 2017, stepped in to declare themselves officially back in action… though, they took a little while to get warmed up.
Lance McCullers kept the Yankees off balance for the first two times through the order, only striking out three but surrendering just one hit through six innings. Despite Sonny Gray’s best efforts (he recorded eight of his 15 outs on the ground to go along with four strikeouts), when Yankees fans looked at the scoreboard during the 7th-inning stretch, they saw the home team’s column displaying no runs, a single hit, and three errors. It was beginning to appear as though the Game 3 offensive explosion by the Yankees was going to be the outlier in a series of tough-to-swallow losses. But then a tall young fella stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 7th, remembered he was playing in Yankee Stadium, where the Yankees have forgotten how to lose, and uncorked a monster home run to center.
Though it was of the solo variety, Judge’s homer appeared to jog A.J. Hinch’s memory to the fact that Lance McCullers has an ERA over 10 in his third time through the order. Chris Devenski was then nice enough to surrender a triple to Didi Gregorius and a sacrifice fly to Gary Sanchez, bringing the Yankees within two runs. Wanting to let the offense get back to their fun, Chad Green came back out in the 8th for his second inning of work and retired Josh Reddick, Jose Altuve, and Carlos Correa in order, and then it was off to the races.
Todd Frazier lined a single to left field to lead off the bottom of the 8th. Chase Headley decided to do the same thing, except he stumbled around first base and instead of turning around to shamefully retreat to first, he chose to keep on chugging to second, somehow sliding in before a tag that he had no business beating (replay review brought to you by W.B. Mason). It was here, after this strange non-double that perhaps should not have happened, that it began to seem like the tides of strangeness were beginning to turn in the Yankees’ favor.
Following a Brett Gardner RBI groundout, that homer-hitting youngster from earlier ripped yet another blast, this time for a double off the wall in left, tying the game at four. Gregorius, again feeling inspired by Judge’s hit, grounded a single before begin scored for the second time in two innings by Gary Sanchez, who hit a go-ahead two-run double to right-center.
Gardner, Judge, Gregorius, Sanchez. The Yankees’ four most valuable hitters by bWARP all either plated a run or recorded a hit as part of the four-run 8th inning that catapulted the Yankees to a series tie. New York’s offense, which had gone so mysteriously quiet in the first two games of the ALCS, and which seemed once again dormant through the first six innings of Game 4, exploded for six runs on seven hits over two innings against Houston’s bullpen.
The Yankees may have lost a pair of frustratingly close games to begin the ALCS (presented by Camping World but with much respect to Doosan), but the bullpen that has been touted as the team’s biggest strength has held up the entire time. Now, after two breakout performances from New York’s offense, the spotlight shifts to Houston’s hitters, who plated their most runs of the series in Tuesday’s loss – two of which were unearned. With four more strong innings from the bullpen in Game 4 (oh yeah, that guy Chapman pitched a perfect 9th), the sample size continues to grow, proving more and more with each game that Joe Girardi is equipped with major weapons capable of shutting down opposing offenses.
With the Yankees’ best hitters delivering in the biggest spots for two straight games, the Bronx Bombers have proven that they are back to operating at full strength, putting the pressure on the Astros’ major players to step up and do the same. As Masahiro Tanaka prepares to take the mound on Wednesday in the Stadium where these Yankees have been unbeatable in the 2017 postseason (brought to you by whatever car that “Sweet Caroline” commercial is advertising), Sonny Gray can smile a little bigger, while still hoping that maybe next time his teammates will score some damn runs while he’s still pitching.
Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports