[ad_1]
BOSTON – Today’s decision at Fenway Park came when Red Sox skipper Alex Cora turned to left-handed reliever Darwinzon Hernandez to go after Anthony Rizzo of the Yankees, the Yankees down one, two men and two outs in the eighth inning.
Giancarlo Stanton, standing on the deck, shared his analysis of the move internally:
“They better get him out.”
They did not do it. Stanton, seemingly the self-talk Tony Romo, made Boston pay off with, quite simply, his biggest Yankee hit and the Yankees’ biggest hit of this season. Brian Cashman’s tale of this guy being a blunder seems as far as Stanton’s 452-foot Grand Slam was from home plate as he cruised down Lansdowne Street.
Yes, Stanton’s moonshine catapulted the Yankees to a thrilling 5-3 victory over the Sawx on Saturday night, pulling rivals even at 88-67 for the American League’s best wildcard slot. The Yankees’ fifth straight win is their best of the year, the second straight day they could say.
“It’s a great feeling,” Stanton said. “A lot of emotions are happening. I’m just glad I got to do it, compress everything and be on time for the fastpitch and something good happened.
“It was amazing,” Nestor Cortes Jr. said.
What a renewal for Stanton and his team. What a blame for those who thought the juggernaut, injured so often in the previous two seasons and still subject to strikeouts, lacked the recklessness and / or durability to play such a vital role with this club.
“I just think he did a great job not only preparing for baseball, executing an attacking game plan,” said Aaron Boone, “but I think he did a great job preserving himself physically. and make sure he’s able to post as much as he did this year.
The 31-year-old now has 33 homers and 91 RBIs, joining Aaron Judge (who made the defensive play of Saturday’s game, depriving Boston’s Bobby Dalbec of a two-run homerun with a brilliant catch in the fifth inning. ) to give the Yankees an elite midrange duo, as they have not been deployed since, arguably, the days of Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield. Seventeen of those explosions and 45 of those RBIs have occurred since August 1, so many of them in big spots.
“Just being a little shorter, a little more direct, better staying inside the balls,” Stanton said. “I was making hard contact but I stayed on the ground, the ground singles were pretty hard, where now I’m able to get some lift.”
Nothing so far in his life with the Yankees, however, has gone past the home run and the four RBIs he posted on Saturday.
It wasn’t just Stanton who reveled in the possibilities when Hernandez stepped out of the bullpen.
“You see it coming, don’t you?” Said Boone. “When they go to the left-hander over there, they kind of put their chips in there by bringing Rizzo out. We obviously love the game against Stanton there if we can get him to the plate.
Rizzo received a pitch from Hernandez on his front knee, charging goals for Stanton, Hernandez had to keep pitching under the three batting rule.
“We were talking about it in the dugout, we had the right guy,” Cortes said.
Luis Severino, the Yankees’ record pitcher at the time, said he was discussing bottom-eighth strategy with wide receiver Gary Sanchez when he said, “Stanton is going to hit a homer.”
“I would obviously prefer to face a left-hander rather than a right-hander at all times,” said Stanton, and the clearly worried Cora ran over to the mound to chat with Hernandez. A 94 mph fastpitch Hernandez later was a whole new ball game and the season has changed dramatically, with Severino and Aroldis Chapman securing the final six strikeouts.
“We are now in a better situation than we were [Friday] … So it’s our job to get out of this town for an even better situation tomorrow, ”said Stanton, whose voice, lacking in power for much of his time as a Yankee, now carries its high and far. deliciously unknown limits of audacity and insight. to his teammates and fans.
[ad_2]
Source link