We have had a lot of posts about the Yankees dominating offense. The picturesque home runs, the incredible walk offs and the convincing run generation over 9-straight wins against tough teams cannot be overstated. But this piece is about their pitching; which has been outrageously good! Jameson Taillon is 8-1 this the season, pitching an absolute beauty in Toronto on Saturday—eight strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, with four hits and two walks allowed. And who came in put an exclamation point—the Yankees best closer since Mariano Rivera. And Clay Holmes not only saved the game but he broke a record in the process.
"The Yankees' reliever pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings with a strikeout, no hits allowed and no walks. It was his 29th consecutive scoreless outing, a new franchise record that was previously held by Mariano Rivera. It earned him the team’s championship belt on Saturday, awarded to the most impactful player in a game," reported MLB.com.
Both Taillon and Holmes have had their bouts with injuries, challenges and just overall hard times. But you would not know it from their performance this season. Taillon goes out cool and collected with each start and Holmes is laser focused in the closing role—0.28 ERA over 32 innings pitched. Holmes humbly accepted his record breaker on Saturday, understanding the magnitude of his performance.
“Just the fact that it’s Mariano Rivera makes it pretty special,” said Holmes. “He’s a guy that I grew up watching, I think everybody did. What he’s done for this game is pretty amazing. So just to be in the same category for this one little thing he’s done is pretty cool,” reported MLB.
And it was Taillon who provided more context to the Yankees victories this season, noting that this team finds a way to win ball games even against the best pitching and most noble of teams.
“It just seems like every day we show up, we expect to find a way to win that night,” said Taillon, who got his eighth win on Saturday and lowered his ERA to 2.70. “There’s a confidence within the group that we’re going to find a way to do it,” reported MLB.
To say that this team is exciting to watch is an understatement. And to think that their pitching, particularly in this case, their closing pitching has a guy who potentially could break more records this season, records that the great Mariano Rivera set is just mind boggling. Today, the YES broadcasters contemplated how long this team can keep performing like this. Between the depth of their pitching and their clutch hitting, from across the team, not just one or two players, the Yankees could sustain this "finding a way to win" all season long. And with Holmes in the bullpen, it just seems anything is possible.
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--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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