In a matchup of the top team in each league, the Yankees drew first blood Friday night, beating down the Dodgers 10-2. New York catcher Gary Sanchez led an onslaught of Yankees home runs with his 100th career blast.
Sanchez is the fastest player in American League history to reach 100 homers. He did it in his 355th career game and trails only Ryan Howard (325 games) in Major League history.
The Yankees hit four other homers, including two others against Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, the NL Cy Young Award front-runner. Didi Gregorius hit two of the Yankees’ blasts.
Dodger fans: “Ryu has a 0.81 ERA at home.”
Yankees fans: pic.twitter.com/hWlPrqb5Se
— Evan Daniel (@mrevandaniel) August 24, 2019
A big turnaround
The Dodgers and Yankees entered on totally different streaks. L.A. was 14-5 in the month of August and had just swept the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees had lost four in a row and were scuffling as they came into Chavez Ravine.
But as often happens in baseball, things changed in a hurry. Ryu, who owned a 0.81 ERA at home, and the Dodgers, who were 51-16 at Dodger Stadium, were no match for suddenly hot New York.
Aaron Judge opened the scoring with a solo homer in the third. Two batters later, Sanchez hit his historic dinger for a 2-0 lead.
It was 2-1 in the fifth when Gregorius opened the game up with a grand slam off of Ryu, who didn’t make it out of the inning. Gleyber Torres added another homer in the sixth, and Gregorius hit his second as the cherry on top of the sundae in the ninth.
.@DidiG18 is the 1st @Yankees player with a multi-HR game vs the Dodgers since Reggie Jackson in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. pic.twitter.com/r5DWVkIxkn
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 24, 2019
Giving Sanchez his due
The San-chino, as Yankees radio announcer John Sterling is fond of calling Sanchez, obviously has a bright future.
“He’s our best hitter, it’s something I’ve said for a long time,” Judge said, according to ESPN.com. “He has one of the most explosives swings in the game and he’s got adjustability with it, too. That’s what makes him so great. He’s able to adjust to off-speed pitches well and he’s always ready for the heater. That’s quite a milestone for him and there’s a lot more where that came from.”
The Yankees as a whole have to like their future, too. The lineup mostly full of young, cost-controlled players will be around for a long time, and James Paxton shut down one of baseball’s best lineups Friday, too.
And if you’re looking ahead to the World Series? Well, if both teams could get there (not a given, with the presence of Houston, Atlanta and other challengers), the Dodgers lead the race for home field by one game with two to play this weekend.
The #Yankees and #Dodgers are meeting for the first time in nearly 3 years. They have faced each other in 11 World Series, but this marks the first-ever regular-season meeting when both teams sport their respective league’s best record. pic.twitter.com/qTDEwwMrWv
— Dodgers-LowDown (@DodgersLowDown) August 24, 2019
