Yankees Highlights: Gio Urshela is for real

The 2020 Yankees are a lot of fun, friends. They hit dingers; they pitch well; they turn sparkling defensive plays. What’s not to love? The Bombers put all three of those traits on display on Saturday night in their 5-2 win against the Red Sox.

We’ll have a full recap up soon, but in the meantime, here are the highlights.

Winner of the Game

The original Gio Urshela fan has logged on. Urshela was the star of tonight’s game on both sides of the ball, hitting a grand slam in the second, then making a ridiculous throw in the top of the sixth. I lost track of the number of posts I wrote last year arguing that Urshela’s breakout was for real. My man came through tonight, and I hope it excites you a fraction as much as it does me.

From a pitching perspective, you have to love seeing Masahiro Tanaka on the mound, less than a month after taking a line drive off the side of the head. He revved his fastball up, averaging 92.9 mph on his fourseamer, and topping out at 94.3 mph. Extend that man, Yankees.

Nick Nelson also made an impression in his MLB debut, logging three scoreless innings. He threw a live fastball (averaging 96 mph) and mixed in a healthy dosage of changeups. I want to see a lot more of Nelson, that’s for sure.

Honorable Mentions: Aaron Judge dingers again, Luis Avilan impresses in his 1.1 innings of work

Loser of the Game

A Saturday night victory against the Red Sox? Can’t beat that. Nobody loses tonight.

Chart

FanGraphs