After taking two very satisfactory games from Detroit this weekend, the Yankees lost today’s game because, well, Masahiro Tanaka, Danny Burawa and Jose DePaula gave up twelve runs and the offense didn’t score as many. Tanaka gave up three homers and seven runs in five innings and when you have your ace go down like that, it becomes mighty tough to win. The Yankees’ offense did hit three homers but they were far from enough. But hey, New York still got the series win!
The early case of multiple dingers
Coming into the game, Tanaka had only allowed four homers this season. The Detroit Tigers, on the paper, are a very powerful team. Sure, they have not performed as expected this season but the talent is there, and boy, they showed it today.
After getting the two first hitters out – Rajai Davis and Ian Kinsler – pretty quickly, Tanaka gave up an opposite field single to Miguel Cabrera. Okay, far from the worst case scenario with one of the best hitters today. Next up was Victor Martinez, who is just not having a great year. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Tanaka threw a splitter that just hung in the strike zone that Martinez hit out for a 2-0 Tigers lead.
Yoenis Cespedes hit a hard grounder to Didi Gregorius and Gregorius couldn’t handle it. J.D. Martinez, who’s become one of the best hitters of AL, got a 90 mph fastball right down the middle and missed none of it. 4-0 Tigers lead. Not nice.
Rest of the start
Tanaka also was shaky in the second inning – he allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases with two outs. Victor Martinez, who previously got to Tanaka in first with a homer, hit a 0-2 splitter for a grounder that snuck through the middle for a 6-0 Tigers lead.
Flash forward to the top fifth, J.D. Martinez hit a slider down the middle and … just absolutely tattooed it. The ball reached to the Monument Park over the center field fence. 7-2 Tigers. It was on the first pitch of the inning so the damage was limited to a run but, still, not one of Tanaka’s finest days.
Some amount of runs
In the second inning, with one out, Brian McCann took a 85 mph change from Anibal Sanchez into the right field seats for a solo homer. Sanchez, up to that point, hadn’t been making as mistakes as Tanaka but boy, that looked like a meatball in the zone. 6-1 Tigers.
With two outs, Chris Young lined a single to left. Stephen Drew followed it up with a four-pitch walk. Runners on first and second, Brendan Ryan came up to bat and hit a 0-2 pitch through the middle for an RBI single. 6-2.
Stephen Drew went deep again so we can make more Robinson Cano jokes. In the bottom seventh, Drew turned on a fastball inside and put the ball up in the second deck for his tenth of the year.
… You thought he was going to stop, were you? Well, in the bottom of the ninth, against Joakim Soria, Drew drove a fastball just over the right field fence for his third two-homer game of the year. Eleven home runs this season for Stephen, which is more than Buster Posey, Carlos Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Yoenis Cespedes and Andrew McCutchen have hit this year. Drew’s second homer made it 12-4 and it would stay that will till the end of the game.
Debut no. 1: The Local Kid
Danny Burawa, only two months younger than Tanaka, was called up to the majors today. Back in 2010, the righty was a 12th rounder from St. John’s University in Queens. Prior to the call-up, Burawa was in Triple-A and has had a pretty nice season: 1.75 ERA in 36.0 IP with 30 strikeouts and 17 walks. He was known for his strong arm.
On the first pitch to Kinsler, the righty threw a 97 mph strike — there’s that big arm that had been advertised for few years. Kinsler hit a grounder to short and Didi’s offline throw was caught by Mark Teixeira and the Yankee first baseman managed to tag out the runner.
Against the next two hitters, Burawa wasn’t as lucky (or effective). Miguel Cabrera walked and Victor Martinez followed it up with a single to right. Cespedes hit an elevated fastball up to the middle for an RBI single, making it an 8-2 game for Detroit. It was pretty evident that Burawa had roughly a million butterflies. It didn’t help much that he was facing the explosive Tigers middle of the order.
Did I say Tigers middle of the order? Well, J.D. Martinez struck again. Burawa threw a 93 mph fastball – it wasn’t a horrible pitch; definitely on the lower part of strike zone but tailed into the center. Martinez made a very solid contact and the ball sailed over the right field fence for a 3-RBI home run, 11-2 Detroit. A three-homer game for J.D.!
Debut no. 2: a first-year Yankee from Villa Mella
After Burawa allowed four earned runs and got only two outs, Joe Girardi subbed in another pitcher making his ML debut: Jose DePaula. Yankees had signed DePaula to a Major League deal in last November. The lefty had pitched with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants systems earlier in his career and after signing with New York, DePaula’s had a 1.53 ERA in 3 starts in Triple-A.
And, on his very first pitch, DePaula allowed a homer to Andrew Romine for his third career homer and first of the season. Ooof. Welcome to Major Leagues, Jose.
That home run would be the only run that DePaula allowed this afternoon. He went 3.1 IP, allowed two hits, struck out two and walked four. He didn’t get things too out of hand and managed to get enough outs to finish through the ninth inning, which, I guess, was all Girardi could have asked from De Paula.
Box Score, standings, video highlights, WPA
Here’s the box score, updated standings, video highlights and WPA.
Source: FanGraphs
The Yankees have Phillies visiting Yankee Stadium for a three-game series. I’m not saying the Phillies are a bad team but … well, actually, they are pretty terrible this year. Feel free to look forward to the next series in order to forget today’s game and Happy Father’s Day!
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