New York Yankees: Andy Pettitte Dominates Again in 8-3 Win over Royals
May 23, 2012 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Looking for their first series win in over a week, the New York Yankees turned to Andy Pettitte to get the job done.
Fresh off of his eight-inning shutout performance over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night, Pettitte faced another young and weak-hitting lineup in the Kansas City Royals.
For the second straight start, Pettitte was absolutely brilliant.
The 39-year-old left-hander tossed seven strong innings, allowed seven hits, two runs, one walk and struck out eight for the Bombers in an 8-3 win over Kansas City.
Pettitte’s only mistakes were a solo home run to Billy Butler in the fourth and a solo home run to Mitch Maier in the fifth inning.
That was it.
The Royals tried to get cheap infield hits off of Pettitte, but they weren’t able to get any damaging hits that would have rattled him.
The Royals got close to getting a big inning off Pettitte in the third inning when they had runners on first and third with one out, but Alex Gordon hit into a 3-6-3 double play that ended the threat and got the Yankee Stadium crowd fired up.
Pettitte threw 98 pitches in the game, 71 of them for strikes, which is an outstanding ratio. The Royals have a lot of young, free-swinging hitters in the lineup, and the veteran was able to use that to his advantage.
Pettitte was able to pound the strike zone, get ahead of the Royals hitters by throwing strike one and then using his breaking balls to get big outs.
The Yankees offense was able to give Pettitte some run support, as Curtis Granderson hit a solo home run off of rookie lefty Will Smith, and then Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the first inning that made it 3-0.
Mark Teixeira hit into a double play that made it 4-0 in the third inning, and then A-Rod’s second home run of the game made it 5-0, and the Yankees never looked back.
The Yankees won their first series since they beat the Seattle Mariners last week and will now travel out west for a series with the Oakland A’s beginning on Friday.
With the win, Pettitte improves to 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA and is scheduled to make his next start on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Yankees offense looked like it showed signs of life and might finally break out of its week-long slump.
But one person who looks like he isn’t suffering from any slumps or rust is Pettitte, who, so far in three starts, has been brilliant for the Yankees.
Maybe the year off gave him time to rest and get healthy while still channeling his passion for winning, which is showing on the field in 2012.
With Pettitte, the Yankees are a better team. Now it’s up to the rest of the pitching staff to follow his lead for the rest of the season.
Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.
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