Last night's game between the Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds looked like it would be, as they say in English soccer, a damp squib. Luis Severino started for the Pinstripes, and he had nothing, giving up 3 straight home runs to start the 2nd inning, leaving the game during his warmup tosses at the start of the 3rd inning, with what was later determined to be shoulder tightness.
As of this writing, on Thursday afternoon, he was scheduled for an MRI, and had not yet been placed on the Injured List. Nestor Cortes is supposed to have his innings "managed." Jameson Taillon has had 4 straight bad starts. Gerrit Cole doesn't give up many hits, but when he does, they seem to usually be home runs.
All of which bodes ill for the Yankees: They should still be able to win the Division, but you gotta have 4 serviceable starters in the postseason. Usually, 3 will be enough, but if one of them goes down, you need a replacement at least as good. The Yankees haven't had that the last few years.
At any rate, the Yankee bats bailed Sevy out. Joey Gallo -- no, I'm not kidding -- led off the bottom of the 3rd with a walk, and you know what leadoff walks can do for (or to) a team. DJ LeMahieu, on his 34th birthday, singled. Aaron Judge struck out, but Anthony Rizzo reached on an error that scored Gallo. Giancarlo Stanton flew out, but Gleyber Torres singled LeMahieu home. Josh Donaldson drew a walk, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa cleared the bases with a double. It was 5-4 New York.
JP Sears took over for Severino, and was fine in the 3rd and the 4th, but allowed 2 runs in the 5th to give the Reds the lead back. That's the way it remained until the 8th, the top of which was pitched by Aroldis Chapman, without allowing a run. Stanton tied the game with a home run in the bottom of the 8th, and Clay Holmes followed his last 2 performances, both of them awful, by allowing a single and a walk in the top of the 9th, but got out of it.
The game went to extra innings, and Michael King stranded the Reds' ghost runner. With LeMahieu as the Yankee ghost runner, Judge began the bottom of the 10th by striking out. The Reds then set up the inning-ending double play by intentionally walking Rizzo. But with Stanton at bat, a wild pitch by Alexis Diaz moved the runners over. And then another wild pitch brought LeMahieu home with the winning run.
Yankees 6, Reds 5. WP: King (6-1). No save. LP: Diaz (2-1). A weird... or "wild"... way to win a game, but I'll take any way to win a game that I can get.
The series concludes tonight. Cortes starts against Luis Castillo. No, not the ex-Met 2nd baseman who gifted us a win in 2009.