From Bryan Hoch:
Aaron Judge called it “incredible,” saying that he’d never seen anything like it before on a baseball diamond. Aaron Boone described it as “probably our play of the year so far.” Paul Goldschmidt marveled at the throw, referring to it as “an absolute cannon.”
To Cody Bellinger, it was just a play that needed to be made.
Bellinger charged fearlessly for Juan Soto’s sinking seventh-inning liner, snaring a shoestring catch before firing a strike to first base that doubled off Francisco Lindor, shifting momentum as the Yankees held on for a 6-4 Subway Series win over the Mets on Sunday at Citi Field.
I mean, pretty clearly, that’s the game right there. If he DOESN’T try to make that catch (and chose to play it on a hop instead, which was the safest play), it’s Pete Alonso up as the tying run with runners on first and second and no out. If he tries that and MISSES, then it’s to the wall, and it’s 6-5 with a runner on at LEAST second base (probably third) and Pete Alonso up with no outs.
Instead, it was 6-4, and Alonso up with two outs and no one on.
Gamechanging play. And remember, Bellinger ALSO saved a game against Kansas City earlier this season when he made a diving catch in right field! So that’s one game saved, and one game PROBABLY saved (to be fair, worst case scenario would have had it 6-5 in the seventh, runner on third with no outs. Not a “game over” situation).
Anyhow, pretty good win, except for Max Fried collapsing a bit in the fifth, allowing FOUR STRAIGHT hits to give up two runs. And Lo, the ONLY pitcher to pitch well in the Toronto series, didn’t pitch as well this time around, giving up two runs. To be fair to Lo, though, he had some bad luck, as he should have gotten out of the inning with only one run scoring, but also to be fair, it was his own fuckup that led to the scoring. He botched a throw to first on a slow grounder, which allowed one run to score, and then the double play ball he got after that led to another run, when it should have been the end of the inning. I’m not down on Lo, but that wasn’t ideal.
Tim Hill and Devin Williams have pitched quite well, though, so there’s at least SOMEthing in the bullpen. It’ll help when Cash trades for another reliever.
The offense was fine, and, well, come on, the offense has just been plain ol’ fine PERIOD. It’s the pitching and the defense that has sucked.
Jazz and Fried join Judge in the All-Star Game. That’s an impressive enough amount of guys in the game for the Yankees. Juan Soto didn’t make it for the National League, but if anyone drops out, he’ll be in, I assume.