Yankees avoid replay controversy as Juan Soto saves Opening Day with clutch defense
Yankees avoid replay controversy as Juan Soto saves Opening Day with clutch defense
THE. YANKEES. WIN! Though it sure didn’t feel like it was going to end that way! New York kicked off Opening Day in Houston with a lackluster first half of the game, as Nestor Cortes faltered and the offense failed to cash in.
In the end, the Yanks left 10 runners on base on 3-of-11 hitting with RISP. They grounded into three double plays. They loaded the bases three times and managed just three total runs in those scenarios despite there being one or no outs. It wasn’t pretty.
But they got the job done. Cortes rebounded after allowing four runs one time through the Astros’ order. He finished five innings of work and allowed just two hits and no walks from innings 2-5. It could’ve been a lot worse.
As for the offense, the performance should’ve been better, but five runs ended up being enough. Juan Soto’s first RBI as a Yankee got the team on the board in the fifth inning. An Anthony Rizzo HBP and Anthony Volpe walk cut the Astros’ deficit from 4-1 to 4-3.
Houston didn’t score again after the second inning. An Oswaldo Cabrera homer tied things up in the sixth. And then a clutch Alex Verdugo sac fly scored Aaron Judge in the seventh to put the Yankees on top. They never looked back.
But they almost did! If Soto doesn’t make this incredible defensive play, this game is still going and we’re likely ripping our hair out.
Yankees avoid replay controversy as Juan Soto saves Opening Day with clutch defense
That play was challenged by the Astros, and Yankees fans were just waiting for it to be overturned and for the Clay Holmes meltdown to ensue. It was a bang-bang play, and the slow-motion replay looked like it may have been a borderline call. Jose Trevino’s tag grazed Mauricio Dubon’s jersey and was inches away from a completely different result.
Soto’s performance book-ended this Yankees win. He started the three-run offensive rally in the fifth and then made this instinctive defensive play to prevent the Astros from spoiling what was a gusty comeback.
Though the offensive performance was largely unimpressive, the unit grinded it out (as Boonie would say) against one of the best starters and bullpens in baseball. They logged eight hits and nine walks, testing the Astros pitching staff and defense for a majority of the contest.
The explosion is coming soon, but for now this result is more than acceptable for Yankees fans, who dealt with a difficult spring and weren’t at all thrilled to start the season on the road against one of their most hated rivals.
News
At my wedding, my grandfather handed me an old passbook. My father quickly took it and said, “That bank shut down in the ’80s—he’s just confused.”
Part 2 “Mr. Mercer?” he said again, his voice carrying the weight of bad news and good news tangled together so tightly they were impossible to separate. The second executive,…
Part 2 + 3: I kept $20M in my mom’s safe. Next morning she was gone with it—and I laughed because of what was inside
Part 2 Because the black bag they raced out of that house with only had… Twenty million dollars in perfectly printed counterfeit bills. I had swapped the real purchase packet…
Part 2 + 3: My daughter married a Korean man when she was 21. She hasn’t been home for twelve years, but every year, she sends $100,000.
Part 2 And then, someone called out in a voice I would know anywhere. “Mom…?” The single word hit me like a physical blow. My heart slammed against my ribs…
My sister switched my baby powder with flour as a joke during a family visit. Thirty seconds after I used it, my six-month-old baby stopped breathing. I rushed her to the hospital…
Part 2 “It looks like someone deliberately exposed her,” Dr. Morrison finished. The words landed like broken glass in an open wound. I stared at her, the hospital blanket twisting…
Part 2: I am 65 years old. I got divorced 5 years ago. My ex-husband left me a bank card with 3,000 dollars. I never touched it. Five years later, when I went to withdraw that money…
Part 2 The manager’s heels clicked across the polished tile like a countdown. She was in her early sixties, silver hair pulled into a neat bun, navy suit tailored sharp…
Part 2: At my wedding, my grandfather handed me an old passbook. My father quickly took it and said, “That bank shut down in the ’80s—he’s just confused.”
Mr. Mercer?” the second executive repeated, his voice low and measured, like a man delivering news that could tilt the rest of a life. His name tag read Richard Harlan,…
End of content
No more pages to load
