Astros Series Recap: Stanton Stays Hot
In an exciting weekday series in the Bronx, Giancarlo Stanton led the Bombers to taking two out of three from the Astros. The series ended on somewhat of a sour note, as the Yankees definitely could have completed the sweep, but I’m not going to harp on the team’s first loss in a week. Chad Green had a pretty rough outing, which isn’t going to happen often. It just sucks that it was the short man Altuve who took him deep after the sh*t he got from fans all week. Before that homer, Altuve was 2-12 on the series, and heard enough “F*ck Altuve” chants from fans to make Manager Dusty Baker cry to the media about it. Fans even chanted “F*ck your birthday” yesterday for the Houston Second Baseman’s 31st birthday. I got to go to the game Wednesday night and it was incredible getting to go to the stadium and be a part of that for the only time Houston comes to the Bronx this season (unless they meet in the postseason).
Anyway, what hurts more than the loss itself, is the injury to Gio Urshela, who had to be removed from the game in the 8th inning and will be getting an MRI on his knee. Gio has been by far the Yanks’ most consistent bat so far this season, but it appears that he will be slated to miss some time, as the team has already called up former Rookie of the Year runner-up Miguel Andujar MLB roster. Andujar has been in Triple A with the Railraiders so far this season, having played Left Field in their first two games before starting at First Base last night and being moved to Third during the game. This probably means bad news for the Gio injury, so hopefully Miggy can bring some spark with his bat like he did in 2018. If he can do that, and minimize his defensive deficiency, maybe he can solidify a spot on the Yankees’ bench whenever Urshela can return.
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| Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images |
Okay, enough about the few negatives of the series, let’s talk about Giancarlo Stanton. The big man had himself a series, going 8-13 with 2 walks, 2 doubles, 3 homeruns, and 8 RBIs. He was responsible for almost half of the Yankees’ runs over the three game series, continuing his hot hitting. Stanton also extended his hitting streak to 12, which is the longest active hitting streak in the MLB. This hit streak also coincides with Boone moving him into the two spot in the lineup. Over the 12 game hit streak, Stanton has gone 25-52, with 3 walks, 4 doubles, 6 hr, and 11 RBIs. The streak has improved his average from .158 at the beginning, to .312 after, improved his on-base percentage from .238 to .364 after, and improved his slugging from .333 to .606 after. Everything he hits is absolutely scorched, as it seems every ball is coming off of his bat at least 110 mph. I really don’t know if there’s anyone more fun to watch at-bat in the sport than Giancarlo is when he’s got it going like he does right now.
Aaron Judge, on the other hand, did not have himself a good series, as he went 1-13 with 9 strikeouts and 1 walk, including a Platinum Sombrero on Wednesday night. This cold streak is unexpected, as Judge came into the series with a .281 average and a .385 OBP, and was coming off of the Tigers series where he went 5-12 with 8 rbis. He was also performing really well in the three hole after Boone swapped him and Stanton, having gone 10-29 with 10 RBIs in the three series’ before playing Houston. Hopefully this was just a little slide and he can reignite his bat in the upcoming series with the Nationals.
Outside of the last couple innings on Thursday afternoon, the Yankees’ bullpen had a great series for them, combining for seven innings and zero runs in games one and two between the new Yankee Wandy Peralta, Lucas Luetge, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green, Luis Cessa, and Aroldis Chapman. The Yanks also got some solid starts from their starters in the series, with Domingo German going 5 innings and allowing 3 earned runs; Jordan Montgomery going 6 innings and allowing 3 earned runs, and Gerrit Cole going 7 innings and allowing 2 earned runs. The Bombers have finally started to get into a groove these last few weeks, so hopefully they will keep up the great play instead of letting one hiccup ruin their wonderful play as of late.
By: Nick Simonelli
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