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v:shapes="_x0000_s1026">MOOSIC
— Forty eight hours ago, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees were stumbling.
Tripped up by an exhausted pitching staff and an inconsistent offense that
squandered too many scoring opportunities, the Yankees had lost four
straight and relinquished their two-month hold on the division lead.
What a difference a weekend can make.
Sunday’s 10-1 thrashing of the Toledo Mud Hens was the Yankees’ second
convincing win in a row, a win made all the more impressive by the fact
they outhit the hardest hitting team in the International League. No longer
stumbling, the Yankees seem to have found their gait. A four-game series
that started with a pair of frustrating losses — the second of which moved
them into second place for the first time since April 8 — ended with two of
the more impressive and decisive wins of the season.
“You knew it would turn around, not only with the pitching but
with the offense that we’ve got and the defense that we play,” center
fielder Brett Gardner said. “You knew it would turn around. We just hit a
bad stretch there and that happens.
“It’s a long season and the last two days, the offense has really come
around and responded, and we’ve gotten some really good pitching.”
Or really, really good pitching in the case of Sunday.
Jeff Karstens held the Mud Hens — the team that leads the league in home
runs and slugging percentage — to one unearned run on two hits, one walk
and 11 strikeouts, the most for a Yankees pitcher in a game this season. He
pitched 6? innings, retiring the first 14 batters
he faced.
Behind him, the Yankees offense was once again brilliant. Lead-off man
Gardner walked four times and scored three runs, Justin Christian had two
hits and two RBIs, Shelley Duncan drove in four runs, Chris Stewart was
2-for-3 and Juan Miranda continued his red-hot series with three hits. The
only Yankees starter without a hit was newly acquired Chris Basak, who
drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
“It’s not one guy,” manager Dave Miley said. “Shelley had four RBIs,
(Miranda) is swinging it well and Stewart pitched in. That’s what you need.
You don’t want to get into a habit of relying on one or two guys.” The
Yankees sent 12 hitters to the plate in the fourth inning. Six of them scored, four of them batted with the bases loaded and
two of them reached base twice. Of the inning’s first eight hitters, the
only one to record an out was Basak on his sacrifice fly. The other seven
reached base on five singles, a walk and catcher’s interference.
Miranda, Stewart, Christian and Eric Duncan each had RBI singles, with
Christian’s driving in two runs. Miranda’s RBI single — his second hit of
the inning — might have been a double had he not hit it so hard that it
smacked off the wall and into the right fielder’s glove too quickly for him
to reach second.
In the fifth inning, the Yankees were at it again, loading the bases on a
single and two walks before Shelley Duncan’s two-out, three-run double.
All of which was secondary through the first five innings when Karstens was
flirting with a perfect game. A one-out error by third baseman Eric Duncan
eliminated the perfect game in the sixth. The next batter doubled off the
wall in left to take away the no hitter, and the next batter singled up the
middle to drive in a run and end the shutout. After a walk, Karstens
finished the inning with a strikeout and a fly out to strand the bases
loaded and regain his nearly perfect form. Karstens went back out for the
seventh, striking out the first two batters before turning the rest of the
game over to Steven White, who pitched 2? hitless
innings.
“I didn’t feel too good early in the game,” Karstens said. “I felt kind of
like I didn’t have my legs underneath me. But after that, I felt good. We
got in a good rhythm.”
Suddenly the Yankees find themselves in a good rhythm. No longer stumbling,
moving decisively and impressively forward.
Yankee clippings
The Yankees upcoming rotation lists TBA for Thursday’s game against Columbus. That game should be Sidney Ponson’s second start
with the team, but it’s likely that he’s being considered to start half of New York’s double header on Friday. ...Pawtucket also won on Sunday, meaning the Yankees remain a
half game out of first place. ...As scheduled, injured reliever J.B. Cox
threw a bullpen session on Saturday and pitching coach Rafael Chaves
reported that everything went well. Cox could be off the disabled list
sometime this week.
Contact the writer: cjennings@timesshamrock.com
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