Good pitching and the home run ball for the Yankees and the plan is working as expected. It has the past two nights in the Bronx and Tuesday night four more home runs. Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius to his favorite porch in right, and Gary Sanchez twice hitting the ball long and deep out of the ballpark with a huge shot to Monument Park in the seventh inning.
This is the expected plan for the Yankees and with CC Sabathia tossing a season high 6.0 innings, the Minnesota Twins still don’t have an answer as to why the Yankees dominate them in the Bronx after their 8-3 loss.
Right hander Jose Berrios walked one batter in his previous four starts for the Twins and Tuesday night he arrived on the mound having not allowed a run in 14 straight innings. That was all before facing a Yankees lineup that slugged four home runs the night before.
Berrios went with his game plan and that did not work. The Yankees easily glided to their fourth consecutive win because their plan is at work. This is what was expected and there is that expectation now when Judge, Sanchez, Didi, and Giancarlo Stanton take their turn.
There is also that added excitement to this plan when Sabathia gives manager Aaron Boone the innings. The plan also gives a reliable bullpen to conclude, though Dellin Betances struggled again with his control and though the Yankees committed four errors, tied for the league with 22, that did not matter because the plan is working. When you hit home runs, eight in two games, that’s more than enough runs to give your starter plenty of support and in time the errors will pass.
Gregorius continued his torrid start as the MLB leading RBI leader with 27, his eighth home run, and all of them at home in the Bronx. Aaron Judge went 3-for-5, including his seventh home run. Sabathia, in his fifth start got that first win. He shut down the Twins with a good slider, curve, and changeup.
“It’s a lot of fun when everything is clicking,” Sanchez said. “Right now we just want to stay consistent doing that and win some more games,” he said through an interpreter. Two more home runs, numbers four and five on the young season and the nine multi-HR games are the best by any player in baseball history through 196 career games.
That’s four straight wins for the Yankees, outscoring opponents 36-6, and during this 18 consecutive game string against top teams in the American League.
“We had a game plan,” Berrios said through an interpreter. “They executed better. Part of the game.” Berrios had a difficult time explaining the Yankees domination over the Twins in the Bronx, now losers of five straight including the Al wild card game eliminator this past October.
Scoring a lot of runs and of course hitting a record number of home runs is expected, and as April nearly concludes the Yankees lead the AL in runs scored and hitting the ball out of the yard. And top prospect Gleyber Torres, after getting that first Major League hit the night before, had two hits and knocked in his first career RBI with a fourth inning single.
Yes, it’s all coming together and in late April. They are going with the plan.
Wednesday night this four-game series continues with the Twins. And by the looks of things and based on how this lineup is producing, it could be another home run night because the plan has come together for these Yankees.
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