The last few years, it's seemed as though, when the Yankees got the pitching, they didn't get the hitting, and vice versa, and it was never enough. But, these last 2 weeks, it's been the opposite: When they haven't gotten the pitching, the hitting has picked them up, and vice versa.
Last night, at Kauffman Stadium against the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees struggled at the bat. In the top of the 2nd, they scored a run on a ground-ball double play by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, wasting a bases-loaded-nobody-out situation. They scored another run on a sacrifice fly by Gleyber Torres in the 3rd, and another on a sac fly by IKF in the 4th. In other words: 3 runs, none on a hit.
It's not that the Yankees didn't get hits: Torres, Aaron Hicks and Joey Gallo (who later had to leave the game with an injury) each got 2 of them, and Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton each added 1. (Aaron Judge got the night off.) But they kept leaving runners on base. This had all the markings of "one of those games."
Except Gerrit Cole picked up the hitters. He pitched like the man we paid the big bucks for. He went 6 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 walks, getting 6 strikeouts. Miguel Castro pitched a scoreless 7th, Clay Holmes a scoreless 8th, and Aroldis Chapman a perfect 9th, to complete a 7-hit shutout.
Yankees 3, Royals 0. WP: Cole (2-0). SV: Chapman (5). LP: Carlos Hernandez (0-1). That's 8 in a row.
Oh, by the way: With their 15-6 record, the Yankees now have a better record than the Mets, 15-7. April is over.
The series concludes this afternoon. Luis Severino starts against Daniel Lynch.