50 SHADES OF GREAT
YANKS TOP M’S, ALREADY HALFWAY TO 100 WINS
When Aroldis Chapman struck out Dee Gordon on three pitches to seal Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Mariners, it gave the Yankees 50 wins on the season in just their 72nd game.
The Yankees have reached the 50-win plateau in 72 games just eight times in their history. The seven previous times, they went on to win the World Series.
History aside, David Robertson — one of just four players on the current roster who has been on a World Series winning team — knows nothing is decided in June.
“I haven’t really thought too much about it,’’ Robertson said of the Yankees’ record following the sweep of Seattle in front of another sellout in The Bronx. “Just because you’ve got 50 wins doesn’t mean anything. We’ve still got a lot of games left. Hopefully we keep winning series and end up where need to be, which is at the top of our division.”
Actually, they have loftier goals than that and if they are to achieve them, Robertson and the rest of the bullpen will almost certainly play a major part in getting them there.
The pen continued its recent brilliant run Thursday, tossing 3 ¹/3 more scoreless innings in relief of Luis Severino, who was far from his best in the victory.
After being staked to a 4-0 lead in the first inning thanks to tworun homers by Aaron Judge and Miguel Andujar off Seattle ace James Paxton, Severino gave up a two-run blast to Kyle Seager in the second and struggled with his command throughout his 5 2/3 innings.
Robertson came on after Severino gave up three hits and a run in the sixth to get the Mariners to within a run. With two on and two outs, Robertson got Mike Zunino to fly to right.
He then pitched around a leadoff single in the seventh before handing the ball over to Dellin Betances and Chapman — both of whom have overmatched hitters lately.
Betances struck out Nelson Cruz and Seager before walking Ryon Healy on four pitches. But Austin Romine threw out pinchrunner Guillermo Heredia trying to steal second to end the inning.
Chapman continued his brilliant June with his 10th save of the month, extending his scoreless streak to 10 ¹/3 innings.
With pinch-runner Chris Herrmann on second after the lefty issued a one-out walk, Chapman got Gordon to end it.
“As advertised,’’ Romine said of how the bullpen has been pitching. “You know when we get late in games, we get a lead, we know we feel pretty comfortable with every guy that comes in. When that door opens, it really doesn’t matter who’s coming in.”
Lately, though, no one has better than Betances. In his past 12 appearances, the right-hander has pitched 12 scoreless innings, walking seven and hitting two, while striking out 22.
“I feel really good,’’ Betances said. “My mindset is good, my mechanics are there. My job is to hand the ball to Chapman. He’s the best at what he does.”
The same could be said for Betances, whose highs and lows on the mound have been well-chronicled.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Dellin this good,’’ Robertson said. “If you don’t score off Dellin, Chapman comes in throwing 100-mph from the left side. They’re unhittable right now. … They’re exceptional pitchers. They’ve got stuff that we don’t have.’’
And the Yankees have a pen other teams could only wish for. Yankees relievers have given up just four earned runs over 50 2/3 innings in 17 games since June 4.
Now, the Yankees head back on the road for six games, starting Friday at Tampa Bay, keeping their run of success in perspective.
“I think everybody right now is in beast mode going after everybody,’’ Severino said. “We’re not looking at records or who is the best team, we just know going after everybody.”