The Great Wall of Baltimore Can’t Contain the Bombers

Baseball, New York Yankees, Professional

April 10, 2023

The Bronx Bombers combined for five homeruns over the weekend in a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles, proving the Great Wall of Baltimore cannot contain the Bombers. The Yankees again claimed two of three games to win their third series of the year. With just two of their original starters remaining in the Yankees’ rotation, they have not yet lost a series.

Volpe earns first belt title

After making some noise in his first big league series, earning his first two knocks against the San Francisco Giants, Anthony Volpe’s bat went a little cold. An adjustment period is to be expected in one’s rookie season. In Game 2 of the series, Volpe ripped his first big league triple of his career and scored the next at-bat on a D.J. LeMahieu double. While this game had several clutch contributors, Volpe earned the WWE-style championship belt, his first, which is given to the Yankees’ best contributor of the game. According to MLB’s Bryan Hoch, Volpe gave praise to his teammates for their support.

“Being a part of this team and being welcomed in by these guys has made it 10 times better than I ever could have imagined,” Volpe said. “They recognized that I was going through it and struggling, and they were there for me every step of the way.”

The Franchyse is repping a new franchise

The Yankees signed veteran OF Franchy Cordero on March 29 after the Orioles released him on March 27. He made sure to thank them for their kind gesture upon his return to Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the form of two homerun blasts. In his first 14 at-bats with the Yankees, “the Franchyse”, as he’s been dubbed by #YankeesTwitter, is batting .357 with 5 hits, 2 homeruns, and 7 RBI’s.

Boo the Captain, see what happens

The boo’s of the Orioles’ crowd echoed through the YES broadcast all weekend during every Aaron Judge at-bat. Turns out it was only adding fuel to the 2022 AL MVP’s fire as he checked off the 28^th multi-homerun game of his career in Game 3 of the series. Judge approached the plate for his second at-bat of the game in the fourth inning, boo’s roaring, he entered the box with a smirk on his face, and I knew that look. I knew what was coming. BOOM. Judge’s first home run of the game, his third of the season, a 416 ft. 2-run knock to give the Yanks the early 2-0 lead. The Captain once again cleared the wall in the 8^th inning to give the Yankees the 5-2 lead over the O’s.

Big on the Bump

There are weak spots in this rotation, no doubt, but given the abundance of injuries, most of the throwers have been big on the bump. Clarke Schmidt had a rough night on the mound in Game 1, giving up 5 hits and 4 earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched. The early jump for the Orioles gave them a massive advantage to go on to win that one.

Jhony Brito was recalled to start Game 2 and he was the same Jhony Brito that wowed us in his first big league start against the Phillies. In his five inning-start, he gave up just one run. In his first two starts, he’s hoisting a .90 ERA. Relievers Michael King, Wandy Peralta, and Clay Holmes combined for four innings pitched and gave up zero runs with just one hit (King).

Nestor Cortes Jr. started Game 3. He retired five batters in five innings. Albert Abreu, Ron Marinaccio, Jimmy Cordero, and Clay Holmes came in to relieve in a combined four innings pitched. Ron Marinaccio and Clay Holmes were lights out, giving up zero hits, zero walks, and zero runs.

On-Deck

The Yankees travel to Cleveland for their next three-game series with the Guardians, their first match-up since they defeated the Cleveland Guardians in a five-game ALDS battle last postseason. After that series concludes, the Yankees will head home for another homestand with three consecutive series’ at home.

The Yankees advanced to 6-3 on the season.