Yankees pitching on point heading into June

The theme this week for the New York Yankees was their starting pitching.The week started with the Toronto Blue Jays coming to town for a three game series. This is the first of four consecutive matchups against AL East opponents. Game one of the series, Nathan Eovaldi took the bump up against R.A. Dickey. It was a good outing for Nasty Nate as he went for 6 shutout innings, only allowing two hits, three walks, and getting himself five strikeouts. Meanwhile, the offense was able to put together eight hits which resulted in six runs. New York’s bullpen was able to seal it out as the Yankees would win 6-0.Game two was an 8-4 loss. Yankees’ starter Ivan Nova wasn’t able to get it going. He allowed four runs and seven hits in just under seven innings. If it meant anything to him the reliever that replaced him, Chasen Shreve, gave up two home runs in just an inning of work. This ultimately lasted in a defeat.The next game was a pitchers duel between C.C. Sabathia and J.A. Happ. Both pitchers lasted seven innings and combined only gave up five hits. Unfortunately for Sabathia, in the third inning he would give up a two-run single to Blue Jays’ slugger Edwin Encarnacion, and despite a run the inning earlier the Yankees weren’t able to respond, thus losing by a score of 3-1.After the series against Toronto, the Yankees would then begin a road trip starting with the Tampa Bay Rays. Game one, had an exciting matchup between Masahiro Tanaka and Chris Archer. Let me tell you, Tanaka was dominant. He would throw for seven innings, giving up just two hits and nothing else. As for Chris Archer he pitched really well himself, but a three run inning in the sixth, help led to a 4-1 victory for the Yankees.Pitching took a break for the next game as Yankees’ starter Michael Pineda was disappointing once again. He would only last 3 ⅔ as he gave up nine hits and six runs. The Yankees would get twelve hits themselves, but the pitching was so bad the offense didn’t really make an impact, and despite slowly coming back in the end, the Yankees ended up losing 9-5.Game three was a 2-1 victory for the Yankees. Once again the offense wasn’t really that good. In fact it wasn’t good at all. Rays starter Jake Odorizzi, took a no hitter into the seventh inning. Luckily for the Yankees, it was broken up by a homer from Starlin Castro. The home run ended up giving the Yankees the lead as a walk was given up the batter before. The Yankees with the lead, then put it in the hands of their bullpen giving them the surprising victory. This is unprecedented because this is the first time the Yankees have won a game only having one hit since they beat the Cleveland Indians in 1914.Batter of the Week:Jacoby EllsburyGM – 6AVG – .304AB – 23H – 7Pitcher of the Week:Masahiro TanakaGM – 1IP – 7.0H – 2ER – 0BB – 0SO – 4It’s going to be another big week for the Yankees. They will be taking on the Toronto Blue Jays once again in Toronto, and after a make up game against the Detroit Tigers, they will travel over to Baltimore to take on the Orioles. If the team has a good week it could bump them into third or even potentially second place in the AL East.Pitching Matchups vs. Toronto:Game #1:Ivan Nova (3-2) vs. Marco Estrada (2-2)Game #2:C.C. Sabathia (3-3) vs. J.A. Happ (6-2) Game #3:Masahiro Tanaka (3-0) vs. Aaron Sanchez (4-1)Pitching Matchup vs. Detroit:Game #1: Michael Pineda (2-6) vs. TBDPitching Matchups vs. Baltimore:Game #1:Nathan Eovaldi (6-2) vs. Chris Tillman (7-1)Game #2:Ivan Nova (3-2) vs. Tyler Wilson (2-4)Game #3:C.C. Sabathia (3-3) vs. Kevin Gausman (0-2)– Weekly New York Yankees Report by David Bieber for FingerLakes1.com