The Yankees’ first week of the season went about as poorly as you could imagine, but they’ve bounced back in a big way this weekend. On the strength of an absolute avalanche of home runs, they beat the Orioles into submission and emerged from Baltimore with a sweep. None of these games were must-wins by any means, but it felt important to right the ship against the AL East’s presumed cellar-dwellers.
Today’s dominant 16-3 win capped off the series. Here are our winners and losers from the game:
Winner of the Game
We saw a heap of strong performances today, but none more sensational than that of Gary Sanchez. Sanchez has eight hits on the season, six of them home runs, three of which came today in what was one of the best games of the young catcher’s career. All were two-run shots, and he added a sacrifice fly for a seven-RBI day. A Yankees lineup that features a fully-loaded Sanchez is truly one to be reckoned with.
Honorable mention: Domingo German, who tossed six quality innings, and most notably Clint Frazier, whose two home runs were overshadowed by Sanchez.
Loser of the Game
Not much went wrong today, so we’ll go with Stephen Tarpley. Tarpley relieved German after German allowed the first two batters to reach base in the seventh inning, and managed to allow both inherited runners to score along with one of his own. Tarpley has only made a pair of appearances in 2019, but both have been uneven. Here’s hoping he can straighten things out soon.