There is no team in baseball hotter than the New York Yankees right now. It's not close either.
Saturday afternoon, the Yankees rallied in the middle innings to beat the Cleveland Indians (NYY 5, CLE 2) for their 14th win in their last 15 games. No other team has more than nine wins during that span. This is the first 14-1 stretch for the Yankees since their 114-win season in 1998.
James Smyth
@JamesSmyth621
This is the Yankees first 14-1 stretch since June 24-July 12, 1998 and their first with a run differential of at least +58 since July 4-20, 1954 (14-1, +63)
The Yankees won Saturday by taking advantage of mistakes. They scored four runs in the fifth inning after Trevor Bauer opened the door with back-to-back one-out walks to Neil Walker and Miguel Andujar. After Gleyber Torres slapped a single to center -- it was the Yankees' first hit of the game -- Bauer walked No. 8 hitter and backup catcher Austin Romine with the bases loaded to force in a run.
The bases loaded walk to the light-hitting Romine was only Cleveland's third biggest mistake of the inning. After the walk, Francisco Lindor botched a potential inning-ending 6-4-3 double play ball and instead made two errors on the play, allowing two runs to score.
Yikes. Lindor is a legitimate Gold Glove defender and one of the best shortstops in baseball, but that's back-to-back days with a crucial error. Friday night he booted another potential inning-ending 6-4-3 double play ball, setting up Torres for his first career home run, a go-ahead three-run shot. Then Saturday he committed two errors on one play, allowing two runs to score.
Jordan Bastian
@MLBastian
Francisco Lindor, with no excuses after three damaging errors in the past two losses: "I'm not helping my team. I cost my team two games. That's unacceptable."
3:32 PM - May 5, 2018
After the Lindor errors, the Yankees scored another run on a sac fly. Ronald Torreyes, who tagged up at second and went to third on the play, slide in safely. Or at least that was the call on the field. Replays showed Torreyes was tagged out before the runner crossed the plate. The tag out should've ended the inning and kept a run off the board. Here's video of the play.
In the dugout, manager Terry Francona and his coaching staff had some communication issues, and they never challenged the safe call. Replays seemed pretty conclusive. Torreyes was tagged out before the run scored. You can never be too sure with instant replay, but it did appear the call would've been overturned had the Indians challenged.
Jordan Bastian
@MLBastian
In 5th, Torreyes advanced from 2B to 3B on a sac fly to Brantley in left. It was a bang-bang play at 3B, and an out might’ve eliminated the Yankees’ fourth run.
Why no challenge from Francona?
3:42 PM - May 5, 2018
The Yankees scored their four runs in the fifth inning with just a single base hit, and that base hit didn't even score a run. Bauer issued three walks in the span of four batters -- none of those three walks went to one of New York's big scary monsters either -- Lindor committed two errors on one play, and the Indians didn't challenge a play that should've been challenged. When you're going good like the Yankees, you get (and capitalize) on gifts like that.
Combine the Indians' mistakes with a solid start from Sonny Gray and dominant bullpen work from Chad Green and David Robertson, and you get yet another Yankees win.
There are three impressive things about New York's 14-1 stretch. First, they've done it in 15 days. The Yankees are in the middle of an 18 games in 18 stretch that ends Monday. It's their longest stretch of consecutive days with a game this season. They've gone 14-1 in their last 15 games with the benefit of an off-day to rest.
Secondly, the Yankees are finding ways to win even when their best players don't play all that well. Giancarlo Stanton has been better of late but has still yet to have that true MVP caliber impact. Consider Saturday's lineup:
- Aaron Judge and Stanton went a combined 0 for 8 with five strikeouts.
- Didi Gregorius did not play after getting inadvertently kicked in the head on a play at second base Friday.
- Gary Sanchez did not play because he's a catcher and it was a day game after a night game.
- Aroldis Chapman was not available to close because of his recent workload.
All that was going against them Saturday, and the Yankees still managed to beat a very good Indians team.
And third, the Yankees are beating good teams. This 14-1 stretch includes a four-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins, a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels, three wins in four games against the Houston Astros in Minute Maid Park, and now wins in the first two games against the Indians. They're not beating up on a bunch of rebuilding clubs.
The Yankees sat 7 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East at the start of this 14-1 stretch and they are now just 1/2 game back heading into Boston's game Saturday night. The Red Sox started the season 17-2, remember. Literally the best start in franchise history! Their lead is already down to a 1/2 game.
Oh, and by the way, the Yankees and Red Sox open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. It's early in the season, but that sure feels like an important series for the Red Sox, who have to find a way to stem the tide.