Texas Rangers at New York Yankees: Series Recap

Game 1: 9/20/21, 7:10 PM (Yanks win 4-3)

A little too close for comfort, but the Yanks get it done behind some extremely clutch relief pitching and a rally. Nestor Cortes wasn’t as sharp as he normally is but he kept NY in the game allowing 3 runs over 4.1 innings of work. The offense started off strong, but failed to do much after the 3rd. Gary got them going with a solo shot making it 1-0. In the 3rd, they knocked out Texas starter Alexy out of the game after scoring 3. Judge and Torres would both have RBI singles and Stanton would hit a sac fly. Judge is batting .287 this season with 35 homers and 86 RBIs, what an amazing season he is having. The bullpen was lights out, the quartet of Green, Holmes, Rodriguez, and Chapman fired scoreless innings. Too close for comfort but we’ll take wins. Green got the win and Alexy took the loss and Chappy nailed down the save.

Game 2: 9/21/217:10 PM (Yanks win 7-1)

Yanks take an easy win behind the big 3 of Stanton, Gallo, and Judge all going yard and Luis Severino making his season debut after 2+ years of injuries! Starter Jordan Montgomery was exceptional, he shut Texas down for the most part. The only run he gave up was on an RBI groundout, he went 5.2 innings giving up that lone run. Lowered his ERA and picked up his 6th win of the campaign. New York got on the board quick in the 1st, a Rizzo hit by pitch, Judge double, and Stanton RBI groundout brought home Rizzo for the games 1st run. In the 3rd, Stanton struck for a MONSTER solo shot at 415 feet. The distance wasn’t the impressive part though, he hit that homer at 118.5 MPH and the ball only spent 4 seconds in the air before landing in the seats, absolutely a laser for his 31st homer of the year and 76th career homers as a Yankee which is 54th all time for the franchise. In the 5th, Rizzo smacked an RBI single to make it 3-1 bombers. An inning later, Gallo would MASH an upper tank shot for his 38th of the year which leads all MLB outfielders. In the 7th, Judge would put the nail in the coffin with a 3-run missile to make it a 7-1. Mile King and Sevy shined in relief. Awesome to see Sevy pitch well and just finally get back on the mound. When healthy he’s proven to be a CY Young candidate as in 2018 he finished 4th in CY young voting. What a new weapon this bullpen has. Monty got the win and Dunning took the loss.

Game 3: 9/22/21, 7:10 PM (NY wins 7-3)

Yanks come back to score 7 unanswered runs after being down 3-0 to momentarily hold a wild card spot over Toronto. Corey Kluber wasn’t his best but was the victim of soft contact. He gave up 3 runs over 4.1 innings of work. He definitely kept us in the game though. Yanks offense was blanked through 4 innings and things weren’t looking encouraging. Fortunately, Kyle Higashioka had other plans and was able to come through in the 5th with a huge momentum changing 2-run double to make it a 3-2 deficit. An inning later, Judge came around to score on a wild pitch to tie the ball game at 3. Yanks had their big inning in the 8th, Torres drove in the go ahead run with an opposite field double and would barely come around to score on an error by the 2nd baseman, great base running by Torres there. At this point it’s 5-3 Yanks, until Gary would came into the game because Higgy got pinch ran for, Gary would belt a 2-run blast to effectively put the nail in the coffin again making it 7-3. The bullpen again was amazing again. Green got the win and Patton took the loss.

What’s next?

Texas takes a short flight to Birdland in Baltimore for a 3 game series with the O’s. The Yankees head to beantown for a CRUCIAL 3 game set with the Red Sox who currently have a 2 game lead on them for the 1st wild card. The Yanks lead the 2nd wild card by a game over Toronto.

My thoughts:

The Yankees were desperate to sweep Texas in the worst possible way. It was great seeing relief in pitching and very clutch hits. None of this matters anymore though, as the home stretch begins with the Red Sox. I’d say to secure a wild card spot, we probably have to go 6-3, 5-4 at the worst. The road to October baseball starts Friday night in Boston with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound.