A day after they got a "must win" -- 7-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers, the Bronx Bombers returned to their namesake on Monday as they pounded the Cleveland for 11 runs on 13 hits and three homers.
The key to the Yankees success? The man they needed to turn things around: Robinson Cano.
After struggling at the plate to start the season during the Yankees 1-4 start, Cano lit up the afternoon sky in Cleveland with a 3-for-4 day with two homers, two RBI and four runs scored.
Cano got his afternoon started unassumingly with a walk in the top of the first. That unassuming walk however was the beginning of a monster Yankees day. After Cano's walk, Kevin Youkilis singled, setting up the table for Travis Hafner. The former Indians slugger made his old mates pay belting a three-run homer to right to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.
Hiroki Kuroda, making his first start since taking a ball off his middle finger got roughed up in the first. He walked two, gave up three hits, and three runs in his opening inning, with a clear lack of command.
Eventually, he would settle down a bit, and gave up only two hits and two walks over his last four and a third innings pitched for the Yankees to get the win, but there is reason for concern moving forward about Kuroda health and effectiveness.
Meanwhile the Yankees continued to pound the baseball. Hafner delivered again when he drove in Cano with a single to center in the third to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Then in the fifth, Cano cracked his first homer of the season - a 404 foot bomb to left to make it 6-3 Yanks. After Hafner walked and Vernon Wells singled, Ichiro Suzuki ended his early season slump by driving in Hafner with a single to right.
But that was not all.
Cano came back in the top of the sixth and homered again, this time to right center to give the Yankes an 8-3 lead.
New York scratched out three more runs in the seventh thanks in part to some terrible fielding by the Indians. A throwing error by Asdrubal Cabrera allowed Hafner to score on a Suzuki infield single. Wells soon came in to score on a wild pitch to make it 10-3 Bombers.
At 3-4, suddenly things are looking up for the Yankees.
No comments:
Post a Comment