“I still feel like he’s even going to another level,” said manager Aaron Boone of Taillon, who was just nine starts away from his second operation on Tommy John in Pittsburgh in 2019. “I am always so encouraged by what we see.”
The Yankees’ starting rotation, which came into the season with multiple question marks, did some of its best work against a Chicago team that entered the series averaging 5.3 runs per game, the second-best of the majors. Montgomery beat eleven career-high batters on Friday night and Cole, the lonely Yankees starter who seemed sure to get into the season, silenced the White Sox on Saturday despite lacking his best stuff.
It wasn’t just the arms that paved the way.
Gleyber Torres caught fire on the series, hitting a home run and walk-off single on Friday, running four runs on Saturday, and beating a single with two runs on Sunday. Torres, whose glove has also looked better at Shortstop lately, has eight RBI in five games since being struck off the Covid-19 injured list.
“The first few weeks of the season were a struggle,” admitted Torres, hitting .234 before pausing. “I didn’t score really well.
“I feel very good now. I go to the home plate and just try to be, get the ball into play and help my team. “
It was an unusual stretch for the Yankees across the board. The Cluster of groundbreaking coronavirus casesThe team, which Torres was a part of, still missed members of its coaching and support staff in Texas. Kluber threw his no-hitter into the dugout without pitching coach Matt Blake. And on Friday, the Yankees became the first team in MLB history to have a no-hitter, spin a triple play, and take a walk-off win within three days statistics.
The team survived Aroldis Chapman even closer, making their first well-deserved run of the season possible thanks to Chicago’s gift of loading the bases before Judge’s game-winning walk.
