There is no reason to worry about three games this season. That said, if some hitters start out slow or if an attack as a whole finds it difficult to place runners, some will certainly feel impatient, especially when the attack belongs to a Yankee team with expectations in the World Series.
Of course, although the Yankees didn’t get many big hits in their first games, they still worked on the opponent’s pitchers and looked like a team ready to be eliminated. It was only a matter of time before they started to produce some crooked numbers, until the dam broke. Well, the dam showed cracks today, the Yankee attack showed its strength and the Bombers took the Orioles 7-0 down.
The scoreboard started on Wednesday, with Aaron Judge taking Jorge López deep for his first dinger of the year. It was the kind of home run that could drive home fans crazy if it came from a visitor, with Judge’s flying ball barely coming out of the small balcony on the right:
They all look the same on the box scoreboard, and the Yankees had a 1-0 lead.
However, if all four baggers count the same way on the scoreboard, not all to feel the same. No, Giancarlo Stanton’s grand slam in the fifth not only opened the game, but it evoked an almost primitive feeling in anyone who saw it:
Aaron Hicks had driven in a run with a hitting streak two hitters before, so Stanton’s biblical explosion put the Yankees at 6-0. They loaded the bases again in the next inning, and DJ LeMahieu joined in another race with an RBI single, but Judge and Hicks were unable to extend the lead any further.
All of this came in support of Jordan Montgomery, making his first campaign start. He looked sharp from the start, crossing the order of the Orioles on his first trip. His only jam came in fifth place, when a pair of singles put the runners in the corners with two outs, but Montgomery retired Ryan McKenna to extinguish the threat.
Otherwise, the southpaw had the Baltimore hitters at their heels, attacking the zone and skillfully scouring its deep arsenal to keep opposition in the dark about what was to come. He attacked the first Orioles with fast balls, then he relied more on his move and cutter in the intermediate innings. The result was an unstable group of O’s, with Montgomery generating a large amount of swings and misses and just a few strong hitting balls. With the lead well controlled, Montgomery started after 73 shots in six innings, allowing four strokes and hitting seven without hitting a hitter.
Perhaps the only worrying development for Montgomery in his debut was his struggle to keep up with the pace as the night progressed. His fastballs reached between 93-95 mph in the first round, but flew just above and below 90 later. His first cutter came at 90 mph; the last, at 87. Certainly, Montgomery is still growing with spring training. Look for him to better maintain his strength over the beginning as the season progresses.
Also a good story developing at the beginning is that of the Yankee bullpen. The team’s less-advertised relief arms intensified with the short-handed group in the absence of Justin Wilson, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman. Jonathan Loaisiga and Michael King starred at the weekend, and tonight, Luis Cessa provided two shutout tickets after Montgomery. Some quality outputs from the Yankees’ deep pieces mean a lot, not with so much season ahead, but it’s a good start for the club’s backend arms.
With the two-game suspension over, Chapman got his first job tonight, sailing in a ninth goalless to end the competition. He reached 160 mph with his fastball and looked solid, despite having accumulated some rust since the end of spring training.
The 7-0 victory put the Yankees back at 0.500, and they will have their second chance to break even tomorrow with their ace on the mound. The one fires at 6:35 EST, or about the time we can expect Stanton’s Grand Slam to return. With any luck, this encounter with the Orioles will bring the Bombers their first winning streak of the season.
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