BASHES BIRDS!
“He’s got a short stroke and he’s strong and powerful so he’ll hit some mistakes out of the park, but he looks bad up there right now.”
Of course, Stanton has had a good game or two before, only to go back into a funk. So even he’s not making too much of this. And the Bombers have been just fine without him producing at an All-Star caliber clip.
“You need good weeks, good months,” Stanton said. “But it’s alright. You’ve got to stay positive. It’s a good way to start it.”
But after all those years of being on all those terrible Marlins teams, this feels good.
“It’s awesome. It’s awesome,” Stanton said. “And on days like this when everyone contributes, it makes it even better.”
The Yankees got another multi-hit performance from Miguel Andujar, who leads all rookies with 26 extra-base hits.
Aaron Hicks, who had been in the Twitter doghouse, notched three hits. Brett Gardner and Didi Gregorius contributed two hits apiece. Meanwhile, Torres and the struggling Gary Sanchez each went 0-fer.
The Bombers, though, are capable of playing better baseball. They can clean up their act defensively and on the bases. Their starting pitching, as inconsistent as it has been behind Luis Severino, is capable of getting deeper into games. On Saturday, Masahiro Tanaka surrendered three homers.
Nevertheless, they’ve been more than good enough on most nights. And just imagine if they were able to get someone like Madison Bumgarner to complement Severino at the top of the rotation.
Since starting 9-9, the Yankees are 28-8. They’ve won 11 of their last 12 completed series.
Of course, the Red Sox — despite Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia recently going on the disabled list — are playing just as well. So it’s going to be a fight to the finish, an all-out effort to avoid a matchup with a Shohei Ohtani or a James Paxton in the do-or-die AL wild card game.
Therefore, the Yankees need to keep it up — staying hot with the bats and staying healthy.
Maybe they’ll even get some consistency out of Giancarlo Stanton. Eventually.
BALTIMORE — Giancarlo Stanton did something on Saturday afternoon he hadn’t done in a while: He homered. Stanton went deep for the first time since May 19 and the Yankees beat the Orioles, 8-5, at Camden Yards. The 2017 NL MVP came in with a .602 OPS against right-handed pitching. He struck out in his first at-bat against Kevin Gausman before belting a 391-foot, two-run shot to right off the Orioles righty with two outs in the third. Stanton added an infield single and a walk as well.
Miguel Andujar also hit a two-run shot off Gausman — his coming with one on in the second. Andujar added an RBI double later. Aaron Hicks had three hits, including an RBI single. The Bombers (37-17) have won four in a row. A third of the way through the season, they are 20 games over .500 and on-pace for 111 wins.
Masahiro Tanaka gave up solo shots to Joey Rickard, Adam Jones and Manny Machado — and has now allowed 15 homers in 12 starts. Tanaka pitched 5.1 innings of four-run ball, allowing eight hits, walking one and striking out seven.
Despite being inconsistent, Tanaka continues to benefit from a massive amount of run support.
Gleyber Torres was hit in the right hand by a pitch in the seventh, but after an immediate visit from the trainer he remained in the game.
The game didn’t start until 5:49 p.m. due to a 1-hour, 44-minute delay during which barely any rain fell.
Brett Gardner tracked down Chance Sisco’s drive to left with runners on second and third with two outs in the sixth inning, allowing the Yankees to preserve a 6-4 lead.
Andujar’s two-run homer off Gausman — a 399-foot shot to left — gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the second inning. The Bombers rolled from there.