When your ace starting pitcher is Gerrit Cole, you should be in good shape. But when your 2nd and 3rd games of the regular season are started by Clarke Schmidt and a 25-year-old who has never played in the major leagues before, that is a sign that your general manager doesn't know what he's doing: He's acquired either bad pitchers or injury-prone ones.
Jhony Brito, a 25-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic, started for the Yankees today. But he got through the 1st 5 innings, allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk. That was enough for Aaron Boone, who took him out after that. Brito defied my expectations, in the best way. Well, maybe not the best: I would have hoped for more than 5 innings, but he did just fine for as long as he was allowed.
The Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom of the 1st, but did not score. They didn't score in the 2nd, either. But in the 3rd, Aaron Judge did what he does: He crunched a line drive into the left-center-field bleachers, for his 2nd home run of the season. Then Anthony Rizzo singled, and then came a Giac by Giancarlo Stanton, a 485-foot blast to dead center, making it 3-0 Yankees. In the 4th, Kyle Higashioka hit one out, making it 4-0 Bronx Bombers.
Boone brought Jimmy Cordero in to pitch the top of the 6th. He allowed a leadoff infield single (a groundout correctly reversed on umpire review), and walked the next batter. He struck out the next, then threw a wild pitch that advanced the runners. He then got a called 3rd strike that was well outside, but, what the hell, the Giants had gotten a few of those the night before. Having seen Cordero pitch to the minimum 3 batters, Boone was able to relieve him for Ron Marinaccio, who got the last out of the inning.
Marinaccio was left in to pitch the top of the 7th, and struck out the side. Anthony Volpe became only the 4th player -- and the 2nd Yankee, after Fritz Maisel in 1913 -- to steal a base in each of his 1st 3 major league games. He got to 3rd base, and got home on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Rizzo. A wild pitch brought Gleyber Torres home. 6-0 Yankees.
Colten Brewer, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays last week, and assigned the Number 54 that has not been retired for Monument Park honoree Rich "Goose" Gossage, was brought in to pitch the 8th, and he went 1-2-3. He walked the leadoff man in the 9th, but he got the next 3 outs.
Yankees 6, Giants 0. WP: Brito (1-0). No save. LP: Ross Stripling (0-1).
So the Yankees take 2 of the 1st 3 games of the season, from a good team. Next, the defending National League Champions, the Philadelphia Phillies, come into Yankee Stadium. Hopefully, the pitching matchups will give us more confidence.
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