Brett Gardner, Austin Romine lead B-Team Bombers to 10-3 victory

With the impending returns of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, plus the addition of Edwin Encarnacion, some contributors on the bottom of the roster may have felt left out. That changed after Sunday’s 10-3 victory over the White Sox, which featured nine RBI from Austin Romine, Brett Gardner and Cameron Maybin.

The White Sox actually got the game’s first run, as Jose Abreu teed off on a hanging curveball from James Paxton and crushed it into the left field seats for a first inning solo shot. Paxton settled down though and didn’t allow another run until the fifth inning.

The Yankees finally broke through in the third inning. DJ LeMahieu singled and White Sox hurler Odrisamer Despaigne walked Luke Voit and Gleyber Torres, loading the bases with one out. Clint Frazier promptly flew out and it looked like the inning was on the verge of ending scoreless again.

The Bombers, however, came through with two outs. Brett Gardner smacked a single right up the middle to give the Yankees the lead, and then Gio Urshela kept the good vibes going with a looping single to score Torres, making it 3-1 Bombers. Austin Romine followed with his own single, scoring two more runs before the inning ended. What had been a frustrating 1-0 White Sox edge before that point had become a 5-1 Yankees lead thanks to some timely and well-placed hits.

Chicago lurked in the bottom of the third, putting runners on the corners with two outs, but Paxton got out of trouble, inducing a grounder that Urshela handled capably to maintain the four-run advantage. Paxton had a rocky day in terms of baserunners, allowing nine over six innings, but mostly minimized the damage, giving up only two runs. It was not a banner start, but it wasn’t bad either.

Meanwhile, the White Sox kept Despaigne out there to start the fifth inning, and the Yankees made him pay. Romine continued his solid day at the plate, clubbing a two-run double off the wall. That made it 7-1 Yankees, and gave Romine a season-high four RBI. Romine’s season numbers aren’t good, but Sunday showed he still can still do solid work with runners in scoring position.

Not to be outdone, Gardner drove in a run on a groundout in the sixth, giving him three RBI on the day. Maybin kept the “unheralded contributors” parade going with a solo shot in the seventh, which made it a 9-2 ballgame. Gardner added on another RBI on a single in the eighth, capping the Yankees’ offense at 10 runs.

Although the returns of several All-Stars may cut into Gardner and Maybin’s playing time drastically, they have done their jobs this year and are solid guys to have around as depth. They sure helped the Yankees to a much-needed win today.

The bullpen had a much-needed, low-stress day. Adam Ottavino, David Hale and Zack Britton combined to allow just one run over three innings as the Yankees cruised to a 10-3 victory.

After a mostly disappointing stretch ended with two straight wins, the Yankees will look to carry that momentum into their most important week of the season: three games against the Rays, and four against the Astros. Masahiro Tanaka will start for the Yankees on Monday, as the club hopes to welcome back some reinforcements and pick up some wins against two likely playoff opponents.

Box Score