In recent times, a trip to Baltimore has been a cure for what ails the Yankee bats. This time, all they could get from a 4-game series at Camden Yards was a split.
They need to get better, and fast. They closed April by starting a weekend series against the Detroit Tigers, who are off to an even worse start, 8-18.
Last night, the starting pitching matchup was Gerrit Cole vs. Tarik Skubal. In 13 major league games, Skubal had a record of 1-7 with a 5.47 ERA. But he'd never faced the Yankees before, which was a red flag. Today's matchup is Jameson Taillon vs. Spencer Turnbull, whose name sounds like that of a soap opera character, another red flag. Sunday's is Corey Kluber vs. Jose Urena. I don't know much about Urena, but except for his last start, Kluber hasn't done too well since coming here.
The Yankees really needed to break out the lumber to support Cole. And they did. Gio Urshela singled home a run in the bottom of the 1st. Theoretically, that was all Cole needed. But the people want a lot of runs. The people got a lot of runs.
Clint Frazier hit a home run in the 2nd. The Aarons, Judge and Hicks, each hit one in the 3rd. These were all solo home runs. In the 4th, Buck Farmer replaced Skubal on the mound for the Tigers. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Kyle Higashioka led off with a walk. Rougned Odor popped up. DJ LeMahieu singled. Giancarlo Stanton singled. Judge came up again. He had never hit a grand slam in a regular-season game. He has now.
Brian Garcia came in for the Tigers. He got Urshela to fly out. But he walked Gleyber Torres, and Hicks singled him home. It was Hicks' best game of the season. It brought his batting average up to .155. (Frazier's went up to .156. Odor, .192. Torres, .234.) Odor hit a home run in the 5th.
The Yankees scored 10 runs in the 1st 5 innings. Ain't no man alive more jealous of another than Jacob deGrom is of Gerrit Cole -- and not just because Cole is a better pitcher.
The Yankees went into cruise control. Cole went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, and no walks. He struck out 12. He finished April with 62 strikeouts. In the long and glorious history of the New York Yankees, only one pitcher has ever struck out more batters in a single month: Ron Guidry in 1978. That included the June 17 game when he set a team single-game record that still stands, by striking out 18 California Angels.
The Yankees matched that last night. Luis Cessa pitched a hitless 7th inning, allowing the Yankees' only walk of the night, striking out 2. andy Peralta pitched a perfect 8th, striking out 1. And Lucas Luetge pitched a perfect 9th, striking out the side.
Yankees 10, Tigers 0. WP: Cole (4-1). No save. LP: Skubal (0-4). For us: 10 runs, including 5 homers. For them: 18 strikeouts. 1 walk. 4 hits. No runs. Cliche Alert: Damn, that felt good. Baseball has a specific definition of "perfect game." But, on an emotional basis, it's difficult to come up with a better game than this. Maybe if it was against Boston. Or in October. Or both.
Sure, the opposition was a paper Tiger. Nevertheless, this is the time to get rolling, and get in position to be back.
Then again, so was a 4-game series in Baltimore.
The Yankees are now 12-14, 4 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 4 in the loss column, with a game in hand.
The series against the Tigers continues this afternoon. As I said, Jameson Taillon vs. Spencer Turnbull. Wasn't he the Prime Minister of Australia? No, that was Malcolm Turnbull (2015-18, with Scott Morrison holding that office now).