The Yankee Savagery Continues

Yesterday, in the middle of a rough heat wave in the Northeast, at home to the Colorado Rockies, the Yankees -- or, as Aaron Boone would call them, "My guys" -- decided to make an honest man out of him once again: They were savages in the batter's box.

Their 1st 2 batters of the game were DJ LeMahieu, who singled; and Aaron Judge, who doubled him home. One-nil to the Pinstripe Boys.

The savagery continued in the 2nd inning, with a little "help." Didi Gregorius led off with a double. Gleyber Torres singled, and the throw to attempt to get Didi out at the plate was wild, enabling Torres to get all they way to 3rd base.

Austin Romine singled him home. After Brett Gardner struck out, LeMahieu and Judge drew walks to load the bases. Aaron Hicks singled home Romine and LeMahieu. And Edwin Encarncaión continued his torrid return from a nasty slump by doubling home Judge and Hicks. 6-0.

Hicks walked to lead off the 4th. Encarnación popped up. Then, things got scary: Luke Voit was hit in the face with a pitch. Given that a later Rockies pitcher seemed to be throwing high and tight, I'm no longer sure which pitches were intentional and which weren't. Voit got up, went to 1st, and singles by Gregorius and Torres made it 9-0.

The Yankees invoked concussion protocol, and took Voit out of the game at the start of the 5th inning. They moved LeMahieu over to 1st base, and put Gio Urshela in at 3rd. Tests were taken, and Voit was shown to not have a concussion. So he's day-to-day.

A 9-run lead should have made things very comfortable for Masahiro Tanaka. He got the 1st out in the top of the 6th inning, and had only allowed 2 singles, no walks, to that point.

Unfortunately, he fell victim to "onebadinningitis," and actually put the outcome of the game in doubt for a moment. He allowed single, double, walk, homer, double, single, for 5 runs, before he finally got the last 2 outs.

I'm surprised Boone didn't take him out sooner. After all, he had pitched the 5 innings necessary for the starting pitcher to qualify for the win. Tommy Kahnle pitched a perfect 7th, and the Yankees rewarded him with 2 more runs, on a walk by Gardner, a single by LeMahieu, a fielder's choice by Mike Tauchman and a single by Encarnación.

David Hale pitched a perfect 8th and 9th, to put it away. Yankees 11, Rockies 5. WP: Tanaka (7-5). No save. LP: Antonio Senzatela (8-7). That's 5 straight wins. The Tampa Bay Rays lost, so the Yankees now lead them by 10 games. The Boston Red Sox won, so they remain 11 games back.

The Yankees go for the series sweep this afternoon. James Paxton starts against German Marquez.