Well, they were certainly overdue.
After a horrid, putrid stretch of baseball, the New York Yankees finally got their offense to wake up on Thursday night. In a 6-3 win in Cleveland, the Bombers recorded 11 hits (their most since April 7). They also broke a stretch of eight consecutive games scoring less than five runs.
So, yeah, the offense had been pretty bad coming into Thursday. But exactly how bad were they?
Bronx Blues
Heading into the series opener in Cleveland, the Yankees had scored only 59 runs in 17 games, their lowest total in the first 17 games of a season since 1984. And just take a look at their league ranking in some of the major offensive categories:
The team entered the Cleveland game having been held to less than five hits in five consecutive games, the first time that had happened to the Yankees since 1973.
So, yeah. Not good. We can obviously look back on Thursday’s game now and see that the bats came to life. But after the first inning, it looked like fans were in for more of the same.
A Difficult Watch
The Bombers stranded a pair of runners in the top of the 1st, and in the bottom half, this happened:
Man, the Yankees have really been a living, breathing example of Murphy’s Law this season, haven’t they?
Lucky for them, the rest of Thursday’s game looked much different.
How the Yankees Got Their Groove Back
In the 3rd inning, the Yanks found their mojo again. Kyle Higashioka led off with a double, and moved to third on a balk by pitcher Aaron Civale.
(What’s a balk, you may ask? Click here for a definitely accurate description by Jon Bois).
D.J. LeMahieu drove in Higashioka with an RBI single, making it a 3-1 game. After Mike Ford worked a walk, Gleyber Torres singled and got a little help from right fielder Josh Naylor. An error by Naylor allowed both runs to score, tying the game.
Starting pitcher Domingo Germán settled down, as well. After the 3-run first, he threw five consecutive scoreless frames. Germán finished the outing with 6 innings, 3 runs (2 earned), 1 walk, and 6 Ks.
The game remained tied heading into the 7th inning, and a new face came through for the Yankees. Rougned Odor punched a bases-loaded single up the middle with 2 outs, scoring a pair of runs and giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead.
The Yankees saw some great bullpen work in relief of Germán, as well. Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green, and Aroldis Chapman combined for 3 scoreless innings, with 5 strikeouts from the trio. But before the game ended, the Yanks added more offense, again courtesy of Higashioka:
All of this added up to a much, much needed 6-3 victory. So, the Yankees finally showed some life offensively. But will this continue?
Can the Yankees Start a Streak?
The win brought the Yankees’ record to 7-11 on the season (insert pun about the gas station here). But the big question on everyone’s mind is: will this be the start of a run?
It certainly positions itself to be. The team has been downright tough to watch all season long. The Bombers did a great job of flipping the script on Thursday, especially after a tough start to the game. Sometimes, especially in a sport like baseball, it just takes one good game to get the ball rolling.
To put it simply: the Yankees are too good of a team to not produce offensively. The team is going to win games. They possess the best bullpen in baseball in terms of ERA, and one of the most talented lineups. Yes, that lineup has not been performing like one of the best, but that doesn’t change the ability that they have on the team.
An 18-game stretch doesn’t change the years of production that these players have put together. D.J LeMahieu finished top five in AL MVP voting in both 2019 and 2020. Aaron Judge has a career OPS+ of 150. Giancarlo Stanton has a 143 mark in that regard, and averages 43 homers per 162 games. And on and on, you get the point. The team is good.
So, yes, the Yankees have very good hitters. And some of those hitters finally hit last night. Can they turn this into a winning streak, and turn their season around? Nobody can say for sure, but one thing is sure: there’s no better time than now.