YANKEES’ BIG FIRST INNING, BULLPEN ENOUGH TO HOLD OFF A’S RALLY

The Yankees have not always scored lately, but when they have, they have preferred big innings.

Tuesday, they posted a four-run first inning then spent the rest of the evening clinging to it to beat the Athletics, 4-3, on a chilly night in The Bronx.

This came after a four-run ninth inning last Wednesday keyed a 6-4 win over the Blue Jays. A five-run seventh inning Friday was enough to beat the Rays, 5-3. And a four-run fifth inning Sunday lifted them to a 5-4 win over the Rays again.

The Yankees (16-8) had a feast in the first inning (batting 4-for-7) then a famine the rest of the night (batting 1-for-21), but Marcus Stroman and the bullpen made sure it stood up for a win over the middling A’s (9-15).

“You want to put together a few big innings to give us some breathing room, but all it takes is one sometimes,” said Giancarlo Stanton, who was right in the middle of the big inning with a two-run double. “That was important today, even though it was right off the bat.”

Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the first, the Yankees quickly got a rally going off A’s right-hander Paul Blackburn when Juan Soto singled and Aaron Judge doubled.

Stanton drove them both in with a double rocketed to the gap for the 2-1 lead.

Anthony Rizzo, who entered the night in a 4-for-31 slump, came up next and visited the short porch for a two-run shot and the 4-1 lead. It marked Rizzo’s first home run since April 6.

“Every time I go to the plate, I try to have good at-bats,” Rizzo said. “Sometimes you look really good and sometimes you don’t. That’s the game. You just gotta keep going.”

Rizzo hit just one home run across his final 53 games last season as he dealt with post-concussion syndrome before being shut down in August.

He now has two in his first 24 games of this season, and though his power has yet to consistently show itself, he is confident his health issues are behind him.

“I think spring training was big for me, a little bigger than most, just to get back into my groove and put that behind me,” Rizzo said. “I think my baseline my entire career was a minimum of two home runs a month, so I guess hitting that quota is another big thing. It’s nothing to write home about, obviously, but they do come in bunches.

“April, historically throughout my career, hasn’t been too kind to me except my first two years here. Just got to grind through it and know that there’s a lot of baseball left to be played.”

Before scoring four runs in the first inning Tuesday, the Yankees had scored six runs in the first inning all season.

After Rizzo’s homer, Blackburn retired 17 of the final 18 batters he faced, with Anthony Volpe’s slow roller to third for an infield single in the second inning marking the only other hit against him.

The Yankees did not have another base runner until Austin Wells drew a leadoff walk in the eighth inning.

Stroman was not his sharpest but gave the Yankees 5 ¹/₃ innings while allowing three runs. He gave up a pair of solo home runs but struck out a season-high nine, with seven of those coming on his slider.

“Just locating [the slider] better I think,” said Stroman, who indicated he was not going for the swing-and-miss. “That’s still kind of a new pitch that I started throwing at the end of spring training. So I feel like I’ve had a lot of success with it early. Definitely location is the priority with it. I feel like when I’m pairing it with my sinker, it makes it hard on a batter.”

Ron Marinaccio (one inning), Caleb Ferguson (one inning) and Dennis Santana (two-thirds of an inning) provided the bridge to Clay Holmes, who secured his ninth save with a pair of strikeouts to close it out.

Holmes has now thrown 12 innings this season without allowing an earned run.

“Unreal,” Stanton said. “It’s a sense of relief seeing him come in the game because he’s been so dominant. The way he makes the opposing batters look is impressive. It’s fun to watch for us.”

2024-04-24T02:24:37Z dg43tfdfdgfd