Luke Makes Yankees' Tough Choice Una-Voit-able

For much of the 2021 season, the Yankees' biggest problem has been not enough healthy players. Soon, their biggest problem may be which good and healthy player to bench.

They traded for Anthony Rizzo because they needed a 1st baseman who could hit, play the position and stay healthy, because Luke Voit, their intended 1st baseman, couldn't stay healthy.

It worked: Not only did Rizzo hit like crazy, but his presence in the lineup gave the team the kind of energy it just didn't have all season.

Then Rizzo got COVID, and...

But wait: Voit came off the Injured List, and started hitting again. And he made this declaration:

I was Top 10 MVP last year, and I've been a great player for this organization for the last 3 years.

I'm not going down. I want to play. Obviously, I know it will be tough with Rizzo, but I deserve to play just as much as he does. I led the league in home runs last year. I feel really good again.

Voit certainly made his point in last night's game with the Minnesota Twins. He singled home the team's 1st 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, part of a 4-run Yankee outburst. 

He singled again in the 2nd, an inning that also included an Aaron Judge home run that made the score 6-0. Hit hit a ground-rule double in the 4th, driving in a run that made it 7-0. And he led off the 7th with a home run.

That's 4 hits, and 4 RBIs. He was a triple short of hitting for the cycle, and, for a moment in the 8th, it looked like he might get it, but a long, tough drive he hit was hauled in. There was a homer in that inning, by DJ LeMahieu. 

Voit's masterpiece was nearly enough to make people forget what a great job Nestor Cortes did on the mound: 7 innings, 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Joely Rodríguez pitched a perfect 8th, and Brody Koerner pitched a scoreless 9th.

Yankees 10, Twins 2. WP: Cortes (2-1). No save. LP: Charlie Barnes (0-3).

So what happens when Rizzo returns? It's a tough choice, and, soon, it will be Una-Voit-able. Either Rizzo or Voit becomes the DH, the other plays 1st base, and I suppose Giancarlo Stanton regularly plays in the outfield along with Judge.

The Yankees have now won 8 straight, and 29 of their last 40. The Tampa Bay Rays lost last night, so the Yankees are now 4 games out of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division.

The series with the Twins continues this afternoon. Gerrit Cole starts against Kenta Maeda. That's 1:05 PM on FS1 -- not YES or WPIX-Channel 11.