The first inning of last night's game had a familiar look to it. With runners on first and second and nobody out the Yanks were set up to spot Eovaldi a lead with the meat of their order coming up. A-Rod took an ugly hack at a first pitch fastball and popped up. 1 dead. Beltran pops up to second. 2 dead. As McCann steps to the plate I'm getting ready for another wasted opportunity and a deflating start to the game when he drills a three-run homer into the right field seats, his second in as many days. And just like that, the bats were awoken.
Last night, for the first time in what feels like forever, it was the lineup that picked up the pitching staff. Eovaldi was not especially sharp last night. He left the game with one out in the 6th having allowed 4 runs. Justin Wilson wasn't great. Betances didn't look as sharp as usual and Miller gave up a run and put himself in trouble in the 9th. But ultimately the Yankees got out of Cleveland with a 8-6 win and avoided what would have been a devastating sweep at the hands of the lowly Indians.
Three guys who really needed to get going had huge nights last night. Ellsbury, Gardner and Drew combined to go 6 for 11, reaching base 9 times and scoring 6 runs between the three of them. That's the engine of this team right here. If you're 9-1-2 hitters are going to get on 65% of the time, you're going to score runs.
Ultimately, it's just one game but it would have been an awful feeling heading into Toronto tonight on a six game losing streak having just been swept in consecutive series. The good news is that the Yankees don't have to do any scoreboard watching this weekend. They have the enemy right in their sights and can shift the tide of the division on their own with a series win. It's going to be tough, but Toronto has to lose eventually, right?
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