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J.A. Happ and Gary Sanchez have both been cold, but there’s no better cure for that than facing the Baltimore Orioles. So of course, the Yankee battery was the driving force behind Wednesday’s 6-5 victory over the Orioles.
Sanchez started the season molten-hot and earned a deserving nod as starting catcher in the All-Star Game. But since June 24, a 23-game stretch interrupted by a brief IL stint, the Yankees backstop had hit just .125, even including Tuesday night’s two-hit outing. But Sanchez went 3-for-3 with a walk and a tone-setting three-run ho- mer in the first inning.
The All-Star backstop said he’s been working on a few adjustments, including trying to “look for pitches in the zone and hit the ball up the middle.” Naturally, when Dylan Bundy served a low changeup over the plate, Sanchez sent it back 422 feet to center field. His 26 homers lead all catchers.
Happ’s slump has been season-long — the lefty has already allowed a careerhigh 29 home runs. Before the game, Boone expressed confidence in Happ’s ability to turn it on like he did when he was traded to the Bombers last season, going 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA after being dealt from the Blue Jays.
In a series where balls were flying out of the park, Happ completed five innings and allowed just two runs. Despite a laborious first, Happ recovered to scatter six hits through the rest of his start and, vitally, no home runs. Happ struck out six O’s and walked three.
“I thought he threw the ball well and managed through what was a pretty tough, heavy load in that first inning,” said Boone. He believes Happ came out the gate crisp.
In that eventful first, which included two walks, an RBI single by Jonathan Villar, and a subsequent mound visit, Happ made an impressive recovery. He threw a tailing two-seamer to Jace Peterson to retire the lefty and escape the inning.
“I really tried to hit the refresh button and try and get over things today," said Happ. He was grateful for his catcher’s three-run blast in the bottom half of the inning, which helped him to steady the O’s bats through the rest of his outing.
Happ improved to 10-7 on the year and helped the Yankees beat the Orioles for a 16th straight game. The Bombers finished the season 17-2 against the Birds overall.
Aaron Judge, meanwhile, continued to struggle. He went hitless over four at-bats, and struck out three times. The 6-8 slugger was twice rung up while looking in the lower half of the zone, and is currently hitting at career lows in batting average (.267) and slugging percentage (.462).
When asked if he was having “one of those years” Boone was quick to defend his slumping slugger. “No, not one of those years," corrected Boone. “He’s one of the game’s best and really it’s just been a couple of weeks where he hasn’t been locked in.” Despite his struggles, Boone believes that Judge’s overall year has been strong. (He is still sporting an OPS over .850 and producing 26% better from the plate than his peers, per Fangraphs.)
“You still look at the body of work. You look at some of the games where he really has hit into some tough luck. That’s what we’re seeing. I still contend it will be a matter of time where he gets the ball rolling and we’ll hop on his back."
Judge said he wasn’t phased by his slump. “It’s just baseball," said Judge. "Sometimes the hits fall, and sometimes they don’t.”
“It stinks, ya know, you wanna help out the team any time you can,” Judge admitted, but he said the team’s streaking has helped. “But the team keeps winning which is the most important thing. So gotta just keep doing my job, keep trying to do good defense, and try and get something going at the plate.”
Mike Ford and Didi Gregorius chipped in, Ford with a bases-loaded, two-run RBI single in the sixth to stretch the Yankee lead to four.
Luis Cessa relieved Happ after five and made the game interesting, allowing two runs and leaving men on base. Adam Ottavino then allowed an RBI double to Jonathan Villar but settled down.
Aroldis Chapman shut the door in the ninth to pick up the save, his 33rd of the season. The Yankees improve to 81-41 on the season.