Yankees’ pitching depth is crucial to the team’s winning ways
The Yankees just keep winning.
They began a three-game series Tuesday night on the road versus the Los Angeles Angels with Nestor Cortes’s turn in the rotation holding a 1 1/2 lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East division standings. The Yankees were 37-18 and 11-3 in their 14 previous games, a sizzling clip for a club that has only lost three straight games once this season, from April 14-16, over six weeks ago.
The Yankees have been bolstered by their depth of talent of position players and pitchers. They have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball despite being without their ace Gerrit Cole, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner. Cole has yet to make his 2024 regular season debut as he works his way back from right elbow nerve inflammation and edema. On Saturday, the 33-year-old righty threw two innings against minor league players at the Yankees player development facility in Tampa, Florida. Last season, Cole was arguably the best pitcher in MLB, registering 33 starts, a 15-4 record, 2.63 ERA, 0.981 WHIP and 222 strikeouts. His 209 innings pitched were the second most in Cole’s 11-year career.
In his absence, the Yankees’ pitching staff went into Tuesday with the lowest ERA (2.77) in MLB. The collective five man rotation of Cortes, Marcus Stroman, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Luis Gil has been capable but surprisingly superlative. As of Tuesday, all but Cortes, at a solid 3.29, had ERAs under 3. Long Island native Stroman, who the Yankees signed to a two-year, $37 million free-agent deal in January, has epitomized the team’s strength and resolve in withstanding Cole’s injury. The 33-year-old Duke University alumnus is scheduled to start tomorrow on the road against the San Francisco Giants boasting a 4-2 record with a 2.76 ERA.
Stroman, who had a combined 44 starts for the Mets in 2019 and 2021, and a member of the Chicago Cubs in 2022 and 2023, giving them 50 starts, went six innings allowing just three hits and no runs last Saturday in his most recent appearance in a 4-1 Yankees victory over the Padres in San Diego.
“The other starters have been incredible,” Stroman said following the win. “We’re all doing this without having the best pitcher in baseball, Cole, who we’re all dying to get back.”
The Yankees end a three-game series against the Angels today and will play the Giants three games tomorrow through Sunday. They are back home in the Bronx for a three-game set beginning Tuesday versus the Minnesota Twins before the World Series favorite Los Angeles Dodgers visit New York for three June 7 through June 9.
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