“Outrageous” Yankee Lineup Rips Guardians. NY 8 Cleveland 2

April 14, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

The vaunted Yankee lineup shredded 6’5 stringbean standout Triston McKenzie with 2 runs in the 1st inning and 4 in the 4th, knocking him out en route to an 8-2 win in the 2nd game of a double header on a Saturday night in Cleveland.

So vaunted is this Yankee lineup that Cleveland Cavalier superstar Donovan Mitchell gushed on Twitter, “As a Mets fan this pains me to say lol but the Yankees lineup 1-5 is outrageous!!” as the Yanks were pummeling McKenzie.

That 1-5 has Anthony Volpe (.353) leading off, followed by Juan Soto (.333), Aaron Judge (.204 but rising), Anthony Rizzo (.281), and Giancarlo Stanton (.234). And the 6-9 ain’t bad either — Gleyber Torres, Alex Verdugo, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Austin Wells.

Meanwhile on the mound the Yankee management pulled another good starting pitcher out of their ass — Cody Poteet — who pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball. Poteet missed all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery, after pitching in 2021-22 with Miami. NY signed him in the winter to a minor free-agent deal. The Yankee scouting of pitching has been amazing the last few years and it looks like it has another ‘find’.

“I think he had a couple of outings where it was this,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Poteet in Spring Training. “Where it was like ‘oooh’ — we knew right away he can help us and he’s going to play a role for us. He had a couple of outings too where he struggled. He struggled I think his last outing of Spring. But part of that is getting back at it, having your first Spring Training and competing again and building up. But I think we all felt when he got him in the off season that he was a guy who could play a role for us, and he certainly looked the part tonite.”

NY sweeps the double header to go 12-3 on the year. Cleveland, red hot coming in, falls to 9-5.

1. McKenzie Supported by Stroman

Tristen McKenzie is a 6’5, 165 pounds string-bean with a lot of whip on his pitches who had a breakout year in 2022 when at age 24 he went 11-11 2.96. McKenzie was born in Brooklyn, but went to high school in Florida where he was an elite prospect and the #42 overall pick in the 2015 draft.

Before the 2022 season, Marcus Stroman publicly promised McKenzie on Twitter that “If you go over 160 innings with a 3.7 ERA or lower this season…I’ll buy you a Rolex!”

McKenzie did — pitching 191 innings with that 2.96 ERA — after which he replied to Stroman on Twitter, “I need an @ROLEX with a fluted bezel.”

In 2023 however, McKenzie had elbow trouble, and spent most of the year on the 60-day Injured List.

2. Yanks Bludgeon McKenzie

McKenzie is back this season, but the Yanks went to work on him in this, his 3rd start of the season.

Anthony Volpe led off the game with a walk, then stole 2nd.

Juan Soto walked, and Aaron Judge hit a fielder’s choice grounder to 3rd that 2nd baseman Andres Gimenez dropped to load the bases with nobody out.

Anthony Rizzo then singled home a run.

McKenzie then walked Giancarlo Stanton to force in a run. NY 2 Cleveland 0.

Finally McKenzie got Volpe to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Soto 3-Run Bomb Highlights 4-Run 4th

McKenzie got through the 2nd and 3rd with only 1 hit allowed, but the Yanks bludgeoned him in the 4th.

Gleyber Torres walked and stole 2nd. Alex Verdugo walked. McKenzie got a fly out and foul out for 2 outs. But the 1-5 was up again.

Anthony Volpe got a clutch 2-out single for a run. NY 3 Cleveland 0.

And then Juan Soto hit a 408-foot shot to left center. NY 6 Cleveland 0.

McKenzie walked Aaron Judge, then threw a wild pitch before getting the final out — a strikeout of Rizzo.

3. Yanks Bleed Beede for 2 More Runs

Tyler Beede came in to pitch the 5th and the Yanks pounced some more — this time with the 6-9 of the lineup.

Gleyber Torres singled with 1 out, Alex Verdugo walked, and Oswaldo Cabrera doubled home Torres.

Austin Wells hit a sac fly to center and it was NY 8 Cleveland 0.

4. Poteet Pretty Good

Meanwhile Cody Poteet was pretty good. The 29-year-old 6’1 righty uses a 91-MPH sinker to get a lot of outs, intermixing an 88-MPH changeup, 80-MPH sweeper, and 91-MPH four-seam fastball.

He got lots of groundouts and some lineouts, in pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st and 2nd, and pitching around lead-off singles in the 3rd and 4th — getting a double play to end the 4th — at that point with a 6-0 lead.

Poteet allowed a solo homerun to old friend Estevan Florial in the 5th — making the score 8-1 NY at the time.

Poteet pitched 6 innings, allowed 6 hits and 1 run, striking out 4, and didn’t walk a batter. A very nice performance.

 

5. NY’s Secondary Bullpen Shuts Door

Dennis Santana pitched a shutout 7th and 8th. Santana was terrible the last 2 years for Texas and the Mets — but has done a good job so far for the Yankees. Santana was helped in the 8th by a tremendous catch by Alex Verdugo in left.

Ron Marinaccio pitched the 9th — allowing a 1-out homer to Josh Naylor but striking out centerfielder Ramon Laureano and getting old friend Estevan Florial to line out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401568686

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