Summer schooled
Pen lifts Yanks to sweep of M’s
The first day of summer has arrived, and the heated Yankees already have reached 50 wins, somehow without firing fully yet throughout their powerful lineup or, due to a couple of injuries, in their starting rotation.
Their bullpen has been back for several weeks to fully operating “as advertised” according to catcher Austin Romine, however, overcoming a surprising blah start to the season to prove itself more and more by the game this month to be the deep and talented collection of lights-out power arms GM Brian Cashman envisioned as this team’s absolute strength when configuring the roster for 2018 with October in mind.
“They’ve been terrific,” Aaron Boone beamed after the pen locked down the final 10 outs on Thursday to preserve a 4-3 series-sweeping win over Seattle for a so-so Luis Severino. “Because different guys have been able to step up, we were covered pretty well today and in good shape to roll it out.
“Look, it’s a big reason. We’re built, in a lot of ways, around that great bullpen. And they continue to deliver.”
The reemergence of Dellin Betances unmistakably continues to be the most pleasant and pertinent development among the relief corps’ recent dominance. The four-time All-Star setup man’s reclaiming of the eighth inning after experiencing perplexing control issues bridging the conclusion of last season and the beginning of this one has been an overriding factor in the pen posting a scant 0.71 ERA over the Yanks’ last 17 games since June 4.
“Obviously, you never want to go through struggles the way I did last year, toward the end of the season,” said Betances, who has been reached for just one hit and struck out 22 over his last 12 outings, all one inning apiece. “I felt like in a way I was letting some of the guys down. … But to get to this point, I feel really good. I’ve just got to continue to work and trust my stuff.”
It’s no small feat that Boone again has entrusted such an integral role to Betances, but the behemoth righty clearly has contributed mightily to the Yanks posting a 13-4 record in one-run games this season.
Two-run homers in the first inning on Thursday by Aaron Judge and Miguel Andujar over no-no authoring lefty James Paxton held up despite an admittedly rare shaky 5.2 innings from Severino. The Yankees’ ace still improved to 11-2 for the year due to the largely spotless work thereafter of David Robertson, Betances and Aroldis Chapman.
The rolling Yanks’ 50-22 overall mark includes eight wins in 10 games against AL West frontrunners Houston and Seattle. The latter impressively had arrived in town this week on a 22-7 tear, even without injured and PED-suspended old friend Robinson Cano.
“That’s a good team we beat,” Boone said of the Yanks’ ninth series sweep of the season already. “We’ve obviously played well and racked up a lot of wins, but you also realize every night just how precious those wins and how hard they are to come by. I don’t care who we’re playing.
“But it is, I think, gratifying to know that we’ve played pretty well against some of the elite teams, and some of the hot teams. I think it just speaks to what we believe our team is capable of and the confidence that these guys have no matter who the opponent is.”
The clearly playoff-bound Astros and Red Sox also have reached 50 wins already in the top-heavy AL, marking the earliest date in MLB history that either league has boasted at least three 50-win teams.
The battle with Boston to determine which team gets stuck in the wild-card game has months to play out, but even by the Yanks’ storied historical standards, only Joe Torre’s vaunted 1998 club – winners of a franchiserecord 114 regular season games – have reached 50 wins faster.
“Everybody right now is in beast mode,” Severino said. “We’re going after everybody.”
Betances, in fact, believes this year’s Yanks — particularly with the addition of Giancarlo Stanton and the infusion of rookies Gleyber Torres and Andujar, among others — is “a lot better, obviously” than even the resurgent squad that reached Game 7 of the ALCS against Houston last October.
If that’s the case, of course, Betances’ return to high-heat dominance has been an immense factor in that improvement.
“He’s locking it down. I just feel like getting it to the eighth right now, he’s in such a good place. He’s as good as there is right now coming out of that pen,” Boone said. “…He’s locked in right now, what can you say?”
The same goes for Robertson, who has yielded one earned run over his last 12 appearances. And Chad Green, who is rolling again with a 2.36 ERA and 45 K’s over 28 appearances. And Chapman, who sports a 1.07 ERA