Power outage is Bomber worry as playoffs set to begin
For most of his time as manager Aaron Boone has heard the complaint: The Yankees are too reliant on the home run. Still, the Bombers kept hitting the longball and winning through the past three seasons. But the alarms go off when suddenly the Yankees find themselves in a home run drought, like they are right now.
The Bombers went four games without a home run in Buffalo against the Blue Jays, their longest streak since 2016.
“Obviously, we’re too reliant on stringing hits together,” Boone said, cracking himself up. “Look, you’re not going to keep this group from hitting the ball out of the ballpark too often so it’s just one of those times where it’s a little bit of a blip. And credit to (the Blue Jays) for doing a good job of keeping us in the yard.
“I mean that’s one of the challenges, any team is going to have when they face us. So I’d like to think that that series (in Buffalo) was a little bit of an aberration for us to not hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Boone continued. “They held us down but I feel like by and large, our at-bats are about where they need to be now we just need to, cash in some runs.
“And obviously mix in the long ball,” Boone said.
The last time the Yankees went five games without a home run was back in 2014, but Friday night they have a very good chance of avoiding that record. Nothing heats up the Yankees’ bats more than seeing the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium.
The Bronx Bombers are living up to their name, going 21-7 at home so far and to 11-18 on the road for the 2020 season. A team built on power hitters, the Yankees were tied for the lead in the American League with 91 homers. They have hit 64 of those in the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium and have just two games this season in the Bronx where they did not homer.
SUNDAY AUDITION
Boone said he would make the final decision about Sunday’s starter, but it’s pretty obvious that barring any unforeseen emergency, it will be Clarke Schmidt.
The young right-hander will get at least one chance to show what he can do before the Yankees release their playoff roster on Monday morning.
Schmidt has made t wo major league appearances, allowing two earned runs in 2. 1 innings pitched. He struck out three and walked three.
But both of those appearances came out of the bullpen, where he could join fellow rookie Deivi Garcia in the playoff bubble. Garcia, who is 2-2 with a 4.88 ERA over five starts, is scheduled to make his final regular-season start on Saturday.
LINING UP
Against Marlins righthander Sandy Alcantara, Boone dropped Gleyber Torres down to seventh in the lineup Friday. He said it was just a matter of wanting to break up his heavily righthanded lineup.
“With having a one lefty against Alcantara, I moved Hicks up to that three spot so i t ’s just kind of how it flowed,” Boone said. “When we have this lineup out there, obviously we feel pretty good about one through nine, so a little bit interchangeable.”