Tribe stuck in gear as Yankees cruise behind Stanton homers
A much warmer Friday evening of 55 degrees welcomed a crowd of 8,662 at Progressive Field for the Cleveland Indians against the New York Yankees.
In a lefty versus lefty pitching matchup, the Bronx Bombers prevailed by a score of 5–3.
Logan Allen allowed a lead-off hit to DJ LeMahieu but easily moved past it, getting two batter to fly out and a strikeout to finish off the inning.
Jordan Montgomery saw Jordan Luplow sky a ball that was caught near the right field warning track before walking the next two Tribe batters.
That brought up Franmil Reyes, who shot a screaming liner over the head of Clint Frazier for an RBI double off the wall.
Eddie Rosario followed Reyes with a fielder’s choice, scoring Jose Ramirez. Amed Rosario got punched a hit through the left side to score Reyes to extend the lead to 3–0.
The Yankees came roaring back in the second frame, with Aaron Hicks hitting a nearly 400-foot solo shot and Frazier sending Amed Rosario to the warning track for the second out.
In the same inning with Gary Sanchez on first with two down, Rougned Odor killed the Indians yet again, hitting a 1–2 pitch to the right field seats 385 feet deep to tie the game at three apiece.
The damage didn’t end there, with Giancarlo Stanton smashing a no-doubter to the bleachers to break the tie, traveling 429 feet.
Montgomery kept cruising, getting through the next three innings without much resistance.
However, allowing a double to Jordan Luplow and Jose Ramirez reaching base with two down and Luplow on third ended Montgomery’s night. Lucas Luetge ended the threat by striking out Franmil Reyes.
The Yankees’ lefty worked 4 2/3 innings, coughing up three runs on four hits, while fanning five hitters. He also allowed three walks on 89 pitches, 53 of them strikes.
As for Allen, he got a quick hook after only 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, all via the long ball. He allowed five hits with one walk and a punchout on 54 pitches, 31 going for strikes.
Phil Maton came on to replace Allen. It took three pitches when he got Gio Urshela to line out to Jordan Luplow in right, with Aaron Judge getting doubled-up. He came back out in the fourth, and struck out three batters while walking one.
Following Maton in the fifth was Trevor Stephan, a Rule 5 Pick from the Yankees.
Stephan gave up a one-out, two strike bomb to Stanton 419 feet on the tape measure with a 117 mph exit velocity, Stanton’s second long ball of the night, putting New York up an extra run. It was the only hit allowed by Stephan over two innings of work.
With a stagnant offense following the first inning of the last two games, the Indians are 2–6 in their last eight contests and will need some answers for a dominant Yankees bullpen the rest of the weekend.
— — — Tidbits — — —
Base thieves
Cleveland coming into the evening were 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts so far, with their success rate fourth in MLB behind Detroit, the Yankees and Chicago. The 11 steals rank seventh in baseball.
Velocity and power for Stanton
Giancarlo Stanton’s 118 mph exit velocity on his third inning blast was the highest recorded velo for a home run in the statcast era. His second was an estimated 117 mph.
The night also marked Stanton’s 33rd career multi-homer game, the first such instance since 2018.
Wanted: run support
The Indians are 7–1 overall when scoring four or more runs. The need for the offense to be bolstered has become more and more glaring throughout the early portion of the schedule. They had five hitters with batting averages at .200 or worse entering the game.
Wild Card rematch
Tomorrow’s 6:10 p.m. ET start sees a duel of aces. Reigning AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber will toe the rubber against Gerrit Cole.
