MINORITY RETORT
Back end of Yankees bench shows it can rack up runs with sluggers
YANKEES 8 ORIOLES 3
Murderers Row 2.0 looks incredible on a lineup card, but a Quadruple-A offense can be just as dangerous.
Despite a slew of injuries and a rapid turnaround — following Friday night’s chaotic 14-inning loss — which forced Aaron Boone to compose a largely makeshift lineup of bench players and minor leaguers, the Yankees amassed their second-highest scoring output of the young season and ended their two-game slide to the Orioles with an 8-3 win Saturday afternoon in The Bronx.
The Yankees failed to homer for just the second game this season, but seven players recorded a hit and every starter reached base — Giancarlo Stanton and Didi Gregorius each drew two walks.
“[It was] huge,” Boone said. “The bottom of the order, guys did step up, and had some key at-bats, some key defensive plays from those guys.”
Brett Gardner struggled to fall asleep after Saturday’s early-morning loss, but returned hours later to spark the offense, with hits in his first two at-bats, and the game’s first two RBIs, while Aaron Judge also added a pair of RBIs.
But the unexpected contributions from the back half of the lineup meant even more.
Utility man Jace Peterson arrived from Triple-A, and went 1-for-3 with a walk, in his Yankees debut, Miguel Andujar, entered 0-for-12 this season, and went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Ronald Torreyes went 3for-4 out of the nine-hole. Tyler Austin went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Austin Romine singled and scored a run, while registering his first RBI since Aug. 13.
“We got a lot of guys we can throw out there at any time,” Romine said. “The depth is huge.”
After using seven relievers to throw a combined 10 innings the previous night, the Yankees got six innings from starter Sonny Gray (1-0), who allowed Baltimore to turn a two-run hole into a 3-2 lead by the fifth inning.
With the score tied again in the sixth, Gray allowed two runners to reach base, but escaped the frame after Peterson made a running catch on a Pedro Alvarez liner to deep left field.
“He had a really nice per- formance on both sides,” Boone said of Peterson. “There’s speed and athleticism there, and we feel like now, the situation we’ve gotten ourselves into with some of the injuries, there’s versatility, there.”
Gray was put in line for the win after Andujar hit a sacrifice fly, and Romine hit a bloop single. Judge increased the lead to 6-3 with a double in the seventh inning, and Austin sealed the win with a two-run single.
The Yankees nearly gave away control in the top of the seventh, when Adam Warren allowed the tying runners to reach scoring position, for Manny Machado. But David Robertson entered, and struck out Baltimore’s best hitter, before ending the inning by also striking out Jonathan Schoop.
“It’d be easy to show up and be dragging and not have a whole lot of energy,” Gardner said. “I thought the guys did a good job of coming in here and being ready to play and turning the page. ... Our depth has been tested a little bit, but we do have good depth. We’ll be alright.”