Thursday, June 9, 2022

Yankees 1998 Tracker: Games 55, 56, & 57

David Cone.

 

From now until the end of the season, we will be tracking the progress of the Yankees with the 1998 World Championship team that won 114 games.

Through 57 Games:
2022: 41-16 through 57 games

Game 55: 40-15 - Tuesday night: Yankees 10, Minnesota 4

The Yankees used the long ball to get an early lead in the first inning when Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run, his 22nd of the season, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo shot to make it 3-0.

Minnesota got back into it, as they put up four runs against Yankees starter Jameson Taillon, who gave up four runs in four innings, and left with the Yankees ahead 5-4. Lucas Luetge, who followed him out of the bullpen and pitched 1 2/3 innings, earned the win, his second of the season.

The Yankees blew it open in the seventh when Anthony Rizxo hit a three-run shot, his 14th of the year, in the seventh inning to make it 8-4, and then in the eighth, Jose Trevino and Joey Gallo each had RBI singles.

Game 56: 40-16 - Wednesday night: Minnesota 8, Yankees 1

Nestor Cortes had his toughest outing of the season, as he lasted just 4 1/3 innings, and allowed four runs, all earned, on seven hits and no walks, with three strikeouts. It was just his second loss of the season, as his record dropped to 5-2 and his ERA jumped to 1.96

Clarke Schmidt followed out of the bullpen, and also allowed four runs on three hits and two walks, with two strikeouts.

The Yankees' lone run of the night came on a sacrifice fly by DJ LeMajieu in the fifth that cut it to 2-1 Twins at the time. Minnesota scored two runs apiece in the fourth through seventh innings.

Game 57: 41-16 - Thursday night: Yankees 10, Minnesota 7

The Yankees had by far their biggest comeback of the season, as they came back from a 7-3 deficit after three innings, in which the Twins took it to Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.

The Twins opened the game with three straight home runs from Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa that made it 3-1 in the first.

Joey Gallo hit a two-run shot to tie it at 3 in the top of the second, and Buxton responded with his second homer of the night, a three-run shot, to make it 6-3 Twins. 

Trevor Larnach hit a solo shot in the third, the fifth homer for Minnesota off Cole, to give the Twins the extra point and make it 7-3. That was all for the Yankees' ace, who had his roughest outing since April 19, as he lasted 2 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs, all earned, on eight hits and two walks, with three strikeouts.

The Yankees started their comeback in the fifth when Gallo got his second homer of the night(seventh of the season), a solo shot, and DJ LeMahieu also got one to pull the Yankees within 7-5.

In the sixth, they tied it when Aaron Hicks hit a two-run shot, just his second of the season, and they took the lead in the seventh on an Anthony Rizzo RBI single to make it 8-7, and Hicks followed with a two-run single to make it 10-7.

The Yankees bullpen, started by 2 1/3 innings from Lucas Luetge pitched a shutout for the final 7 2/3 innings of the game after Cole left. Luetge allowed a single and a walk, and the four teleivers who followed him (Miguel Castro, Wandy Peralta, Michael King, and Clay Holmes topped that, as they didn't allow a hit for the final 4 1/3 innings of the game.

Castro, who went 1 1/3 innings, allowing no runs, no hits, and just a walk, with a strikeout, earned the win to improve to 3-0.

1998: 44-13 through 57 games

Game 55: 
42-13 - June 5, 1998: Yankees 5, Florida Marlins 1
Florida's starting pitcher Joe Fontenot kept the Yankees off the board until the bottom of the sixth inning when Tino Martinez got an RBI single.
After Derrek Lee got an RBI groundout in the top of the seventh against Andy Pettitte to tie it at one, Darryl Strawberry led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run, followed by a Chuck Knoblauch single to make it 3-1 Yankees.
The Yankees tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-1, and Pettitte earned the win to improve to 7-5 on the season.

Game 56: 43-13 - June 6, 1998: Yankees 4, Florida Marlins 2

The Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead in this one in the third inning when Luis Sojo had an RBI single, followed by a three-run homer from Bernie Williams.
Ramiro Mendoza went 7 1/3 innings in this one, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks, with a strikeout, to improve to 4-1 on the season.

Game 57: 44-13 - June 7, 1998: Yankees 4, Florida Marlins 1

David Cone threw a complete game to improve to 8-1 on the season, as he allowed just one run on two hits and two walks, with 14 strikeouts.
The Yankees got on the board in the bottom of the first inning on a Paul O'Neill solo home run, and then tacked on two in the third when Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams hit solo shots of their own.
Ryan Dempster took the loss for Florida, as he allowed four runs on six hits and five walks, with three strikeouts, in 4 2/3 innings, to drop to 0-2 in his rookie season. He finished the season with a 1-5 record with a 7.08 ERA.
Dempster would go on to pitch for 16 years for the Marlins until 2002, the a year-plus with the Reds, the Cubs from 2004 to halfway through 2012, when he was traded to Texas, and then one season with the Boston Red Sox in 2013 when they won the World Series.

Where they stand: The 2022 Yankees (41-16) are three games off the pace of the 1998 Yankees, who were 44-13 through 57 games.

No comments:

Post a Comment