The Yankees just secured their first sweep of a team since 6/4-6/6 against the Twins with a gutsy 3-game set vs the Philadelphia Phillies. They showed off the power of their bats and depth of their bullpen over the course of the 3 games at the Bank to improve to 65-45 (38-22 on the Road).
Their 38-22 road record is the best in the majors and shows us they can win away from the Bronx.
Let’s dive into the series and see how the Yankees pulled off an impressive 3-game sweep.
7/29: Yankees 14, Phillies 4
In the first game of the series between two of baseball’s best, the Yankees earned a dominant 14-4 win. Yankee starter Luis Gil earned his 11th win of the season, going 5 and 1/3 IP, giving up 5 hits and 3 ER while striking out 8.
After a less than impressive start against the Mets, Gil bounced back against one of the best lineups in baseball. Gil would hold the Phillies’ three best hitters (Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner & Bryce Harper) hitless while on the mound.
Phillies Ace Zack Wheeler, on the other hand, would have far from his best stuff. Wheeler would give up 7 hits and 7 ER, including 3 solo homers, over 5 innings of work. This was Wheeler’s second worst start of the year, trailing only his start on 6/16 where he gave up 8 ER against Baltimore.
The Yankee offense, powered by Captain Aaron Judge and new addition Jazz Chisholm Jr., exploded for 6 homers and 14 team hits.
Judge and Chisholm Jr. each hit a pair of their own deep balls while Ben Rice and Anthony Volpe tacked on shots of their own.
Devout Yankee fan and social media star Joez McFly would have the same reaction that most of us probably did to Judge’s second homer of the night:
Chisholm went as far as using Judge’s bat to hit his second homer of the night.
This game seemed to be as seamless a Yankee win as we’ve had all season. A great confidence booster for a club starting to find their stride again after a month-plus of piss poor play.
7/30: Yankees 7, Phillies 6 (F/12)
Tuesday’s matchup was an entertaining back-and-forth rollercoaster of emotions for both fanbases. What was supposed to be a high profile pitching matchup between Gerrit Cole and Aaron Nola swiftly changed when Gerrit Cole was scratched due to fatigue.
Taking the mound for the Yankees was Will Warren for his first career start. Warren would give the Yankees a solid 5 and 1/3 innings of work and would only give up 4 hits. Outside of a 3-run homer to Austin Hays, an impressive outing for the rook.
Warren would leave the game with the Yankees trailing 4-1.
Similar to the first game of this series, it was the Jazz Chisholm Jr. show for the Yankees. In the top of the 6th, Chisholm took Nola deep to cut the lead down to 4-2.
Then, in the top of the 7th, Chisholm came back up to bat with a chance to put the Yankees ahead:
Chisholm’s second bomb of the game and fourth in the last 24 hours put the Yankees up 5-4.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 9th, Clay Holmes (sigh) would come in and try to shut the door on the Phillies. The lead did not last long.
Yankee fans thought we had it bad with Aroldis Chapman but my god Holmes is taking the cake right now. Holmes leads the Majors with 8 blown saves and it is really hard to find a reason to trust this guy right now.
Extra Innings
Holmes did not let another run cross the plate, fortunately, and the game went to extras. Philly reliever Jeff Hoffman came in and prevented the Yankees from scoring in the top of the 10th. Newly acquired reliever Mark Leiter Jr. (via the Cubs) responded with a shutout inning of his own in the bottom of the 10th.
In the 11th, the Yankees plated a run on a Verdugo sac fly, but the Phillies counterpunched with a Hays single to knot it up at 6.
The Phillies had a chance to end the game with Alec Bohm up and the winning run 90 feet away. Yankee CF Trent Grisham had other plans.
In the top of the 12th, the Yankees plated another run to push the score 7-6. In the bottom of the 12th, Michael Tonkin made quick work of Marsh, Realmuto and Wilson to shut the door on the Phillies and give the Yankees the series win.
Sure, it is only one outing of relief work for Tonkin but considering he started with a runner on second in both innings and only let up 1 run, the Yankees have to start thinking about alternative options if Holmes continues to blow leads.
7/31: Yankees 6, Phillies 5
The final game of the series took place during the workday for many fans. The Yankees would entrust Nestor Cortes, who had been involved in recent trade rumors, to take the mound and put the Yankees in a position to secure a 3-game sweep of the Phillies.
Cortes put together one of his better starts of the year, going for 5 and 1/3 innings while only giving up 3 hits and 3 ER.
Philly starter Cristopher Sanchez also went into the 6th but would give up 8 hits and 6 ER, which would be enough for the Yankees.
The Yankee offense was powered by the bat of DJ LeMahieu, who drove in all 6 Yankee runs with a grand slam in the 2nd and a 2-run double in the 6th.
Although it’s a small sample size, it is nice to see DJ swinging a good bat again.
The Phillies made it close, bringing the game to within one in the 8th after a Castellanos single drove in Bohm.
In the 9th, who else would the Yankees call on to secure the win than the guy who blew the game last night: Clay Holmes.
This time around was different for Holmes, thankfully. After giving up a leadoff single to Schwarber, Holmes got Hays to fly out to center and Harper to ground into a game-ending double play.
Upcoming Series vs Toronto (8/2-8/4)
After taking 2 out of 3 in Boston and sweeping the Phillies in Philadelphia, the Yankees start a 9-game home stand on Friday (8/2) with the Toronto Blue Jays in town for a 3-game set.
The projected pitching matchups can be seen below:
8/2: Marcus Stroman vs. Kevin Gausman
8/3: Carlos Rodon vs. Jose Berrios
8/4: TBD
The Yankees seem to be finding their stride again. If only they could have some consistent pitching performances moving forward.
Friday’s game will be Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s introduction to the Yankee faithful as a member of the pinstripes and i’m expecting at least one, but hopefully more, trips to the short porch from the bat of #13.
