The Yankees won 11-5 on Monday night in Seattle, and quite frankly, in blowouts I tend to have a fair amount of the recap pre-written. That has taken a backseat now, as Oswaldo Cabrera was taken off the field by an ambulance in the ninth inning. Coming home on a sac fly, the Yankee third baseman overran the plate by about a full step, planted his leg to turn back towards the plate, touched home and immediately collapsed.
He lay on the ground for a good 15 minutes before he was even able to be moved. Cabrera’s leg was placed in an air cast by the EMTs. Manager Aaron Boone later said it was an ankle injury. I imagine it won’t be long before we have a more specific diagnosis, and I’m hoping against hope that it’s not as serious as it seemed. We’re thinking of you, Waldo.
I suppose we do have to talk about the game some.
We hear all about the Third Time Through penalty, but each time tonight the Yankee lineup turned over, Emerson Hancock’s stuff got more hittable. The first time through, he looked pretty good. The second time, Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge touched him. Then on the third time through, the whole lineup chased Hancock from the game. In the end, the Yankees cruised to a win in the first game of this series, though again not one that you feel all that great about given the events of the ninth.
Things got off to a tough start, with the Yankees going down 1-2-3 in the first and Julio Rodríguez taking Clarke Schmidt deep in the home half to get his club ahead. Clarke did struggle to put away hitters early, getting into another jam in the second and seemingly throwing 1-2 extra pitchers to each man until about the fourth. He was able to work the next two innings smoothly, although Mark Leiter Jr. and a bloop single in front of Judge led to the third Mariners’ run being charged to Schmidt in the seventh.
Grisham, meanwhile, got the Yankees back not once but twice:
First, J-Rod gives him some help, not quite to Jose Canseco’s level, but a little bump never hurts. Jorge Polanco swatted another long ball in his incredible start to the season, putting the M’s back up top, but Grisham came to the plate facing Hancock for the third time:
The game was now 2-2, but the dyke had burst.
Judge singled, Ben Rice doubled, and I thought Luis Rojas was going to send Judge into a bad play at the plate, but wisdom prevailed — and a good thing too:
We had a mix of small cuts and big amputations, with Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger hitting RBI singles in stereo to make it 4-2. The Yankees really needed one more big hit to turn the game over to a well-rested bullpen, so cue Austin Wells:
Wells would add a fourth RBI later in the night on a sac fly.
The Mariners did make it interesting for a moment in the eighth, when Cal Raleigh went yard to make it a three-run game. Luckily, the Yankees were due for a fourth home run, from another one of the kids: enter Anthony Volpe, exit ball 411 feet away.
Cabrera ended up being the final run, with Judge driving him in.
It’s a big win, and this is a very plausible playoff matchup so you want to get that kind of victory in early in the year. Max Fried, who’s become The Guy in the Yankee rotation, goes again tomorrow, starting at 9:40pm ET with Bryan Woo on for Seattle. It sounds like DJ LeMahieu will be activated from the IL, which was the plan even before the ninth. Oswaldo Cabrera’s health overshadows everything. Be well, Waldo.
