Judge & Cole & Fun for All. NY 8 Toronto 1

July 1, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

Aaron Judge hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 1st, Gerrit Cole pitched 5 strong innings, and everyone in the Yankee lineup got a hit — except for Anthony Volpe — as the Yanks rolled to an 8-1 win on a Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

Volpe was the lone bummer news on the day as he went 0-5 with 3 strikeouts, and continues in a mini slump that has dropped his average to .261.

But it was good vibes everywhere else as Cole looked great, Judge hit his league-leading 31st homer and raised his average to .316 (2nd in the AL by only a point), everyone got a hit or 2, the bullpen did its job, and even Baltimore lost in the evening so the Yanks are back in a virtual tie for 1st.

“I thought it was a good line of stuff and command,” said Cole afterwards about his outing. “Pitched pretty smart for the most part; so it was a pretty good day.”

“There was a bit of a conscious effort to hone in the command a little bit; making sure we’re giving ourselves a chance over the plate,” added Cole. “It’s part of the build-up process — as you keep getting stronger and keep getting going you’re going to have to tinker here and there.”

NY splits the 4-game series with Toronto and improves to 54-32, in a virtual tie with Baltimore for 1st place in the AL East. Toronto falls to 38-45.

1. Soto Plays; Judge HR’s in 1st

Juan Soto had missed the prior game with a sprained wrist and was doubtful for this game — but the Yanks waited until he finished batting practice to submit their lineup card — and put Soto in the lineup after he talked his way into the game with manager Aaron Boone.

And in the top of the 1st against Kevin Gausman, Soto singled, and Aaron Judge drove him home with a 423-foot BLAST to center. Yankees 2 Toronto 0.

2. Yanks Make It 4-0 in 2nd

Gausman came into the game with a 6-6 4.26 record. The Yankees pummeled him in the 1st week of the season on April 6 (1.1 innings, 6 runs); were stifled by him on April 17 (5 innings, 1 run); and pummeled him again in this game.

Lefty Ben Rice — who has been hitting the ball Hard every time up — led off the 2nd with a walk, and lefty Austin Wells — who also has been hitting the ball Hard every time up — walked too.

DJ LeMahieu then ripped a single to left, scoring Rice.

Trent Grisham worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out, and after Volpe struck out (again) — Gausman threw 4 straight balls to Juan Soto for another run and a 4-0 Yankee lead.

Gausman struck out Judge and got Verdugo to fly out to end the inning.

3. Cole Terrific

Meanwhile Gerrit Cole, coming off a tough start against the Mets as he continues to build rhythm after missing the first 2 months of the season — was OK at first and then started to Roll.

Cole:

  • Allowed a 2-out single to the red hot Vladimir Guerrero Jr.in the 1st, but got the final out;
  • Allowed a leadoff single to George Springer in the 2nd, struck out a batter, hit Danny Jansen with a pitch to put 2 on, but struck out the last 2 batters of the inning — 3 strikeouts in the inning in all;

  • Walked Horwitz and hit Guerrero Jr on the hand with a pitch in the 3rd — then allowed an RBI single to Josh Turner making it a 4-1 game with runners on 1st and 2nd. But Cole got a Huge double play ball — Volpe to Gleyber to Rice — to end the inning;
  • Sailed through the 4th Cole — a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout and two fly outs;
  • Entered the 5th staked to a 7-1 lead and it was a matter of getting through the inning under the pre-established pitch count to get the win. Cole got a 1-2-3 inning — strike out, pop out, strike out.

Cole finished at 90 pitches. His line: 5 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 6 K’s, 1 walk. He wins to go 1-1 6.23.

4. Yanks Knock Out Gausman in 5th

Gausman continued to struggle in the 3rd and 4th innings, but got by. Gleyber Torres had a leadoff double in the 3rd but was stranded there; and in the 4th, Juan Soto worked a 2-out walk, and Gausman hit Aaron Judge with a pitch — seeming payback for Cole hitting two batters including Guererro earlier.

But in the 5th the Yanks knocked Gausman out. Gleyber Torres led off with a single, Ben Rice walked, and DJ LeMahieu ripped a 1-out double to center for a 5-1 NY lead.

Trent Grisham doubled in 2 more runs to make it 7-1 NY.

5. Rice Continues to HIT

Nate Pearson came in to pitch the 6th, and struck out 3 batters — but in between the Yanks got a double by Alex Verdugo and a double by Ben Rice to make it 8-1. Rice was 1-3 with 2 walks on the day and is at .273.

6. Tonkin, Hill, Maciejewski Finish

Michael Tonkin pitched a shutout 6th and got the first 2 outs of the 7th before yielding a single to Ernie Clement and being relieved by Tim Hill, who got the final out of the inning.

Hill pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 8th — helped by a terrific play at short by Volpe. Volpe’s slumping offensive game of late has not effected his Gold Glove defensive game.

Josh Maciejewski pitched the 9th — allowing a 1-out walk but getting the final two batters, striking out Danny Jansen for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

Aaron Judge went 2-4 on the day with a walk, besides hitting his 31st homer. He is slashing 31-82-.316 (.436 OBP) and leads the Majors in Homers, RBIs, and OPS, and is 2nd in the American League in batting average to Luis Rengifo who is at .317.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569732

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