The Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers 8-0 in Game 1 of their doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in the Bronx.
Here are some takeaways...
- The Yanks opened a long day of baseball by jumping on Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi early, unsurprisingly, behind the star-studded duo of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. After they came through with back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first, Gleyber Torres drove in the first run of the game with a two-out single of his own. After a rough month of July, Torres is quietly riding a six-game hitting streak to open August.
- Two innings later the dynamic duo struck for back-to-back singles again, leading off the third, and this time it was Austin Wells who lined a two-run double to increase the lead. The young backstop came through again in the bottom of the fourth, as he capped off his big day with a two-run single up the middle. Wells has done a terrific job providing protection behind Judge, hitting .358 with six extra-base hits and 13 RBI in the cleanup spot this season.
- Judge had an RBI double of his own and drew a walk a few innings later, as he reached four times on the afternoon, giving him his league-best 40th game in which he was on base three or more times. Soto was robbed of a bases-loaded knock on a terrific diving play by second baseman Marcus Semien, but he was able to get on three times with two walks and a single, pushing his on-base streak to a whopping 19 games.
- After starting the game with a 1-2-3 top of the first, Carlos Rodon had to work through traffic in each of the next three innings, but he did well to keep the Rangers off the board. After being handed a big lead in the fourth, the southpaw came out and retired the next five batters easily, but he was pulled in the sixth after allowing a two-out double to Adolis Garcia. Overall, he walked five batters but allowed just three hits and struck out six across 5.2 shutout innings.
- Ron Marinaccio was selected as the 27th Man for the doubleheader and he provided the Yanks with some nice length out of the bullpen, striking out three and allowing just one hit over 2.1 scoreless innings. The 29-year-old has pitched to a strong 2.84 ERA this year but he's been plagued by walks and the home run ball, which led to him being sent down to Triple-A.
- Jazz Chisholm put the exclamation point on the victory, cracking his sixth long ball in pinstripes into the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth, the lone homer of the game. After cooling off a bit, he has now homered in back-to-back games and has reached base safely in five of the team's seven games in August.
- Trent Grisham left the game in the top of the fifth after being hit by a pitch on the hand in his previous at-bat. After being looked at by trainers, the outfielder remained in the game to run the bases, but with the Yanks taking a big lead during that frame he was pulled when they took the field.
- With the help of Friday's rainout, Anthony Volpe was able to jump right back into the Yanks lineup after leaving Thursday's series finale against the Angels due to a left foot contusion. The young shortstop told Aaron Boone pregame that he felt fine and he'd be ready to roll for both games of the doubleheader. He stayed ice cold at the plate, though, pushing his hitless streak to 10 consecutive at-bats following his 10-game hitting streak.
Game MVP: Austin Wells
Well, Well, Wells.
As I said above, the youngster has been tremendous providing protection behind Judge and that continued in this one, as he reached base twice and tied his career-high by driving in four of the Yanks' eight runs on the afternoon.