The Yankees head to Kansas City with the ALDS at one game apiece. The series was a two-game tale for the offense, with the bats never letting up in Game 1 to turn around multiple deficits until the victory was achieved, while in Game 2 those same bats never had enough sustained momentum to really get the Royals’ pitching staff get into trouble. . A common problem is timely hitting with men on – the Yankees are a combined 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position, leaving 19 runners between both games.

It is because of this inefficiency with runners on that the Yankees found themselves in a 3-2 situation heading into the bottom of the fifth of ALDS Game 1, with the bats having squandered a crucial scoring opportunity in the first. Michael Wacha had a bend-but-don’t-break performance, allowing a fair number of baserunners without giving up the killing blow, but an eight-pitch walk from Gleyber Torres to start the bottom of the inning meant it end of his match. .

Hard-throwing Angel Zerpa was the first arm out of the bullpen, and the Yankees found immediate success: A Juan Soto single and Aaron Judge walk loaded the bases for Austin Wells, whose gritty seven-pitch walk sealed the tying run. However, Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. both made quick outs, and just like that, the bases loaded with no outs had turned into bases loaded with two outs, and the inability to score at least another run to regain the lead felt like it should have. was a backbreaker at this point.

Deploys Anthony Volpe, who already went 0-for-2 on the day with a few catches. He is one of the least likely hitters in the lineup to walk and his contact quality for much of the year did not inspire confidence that he would perform in this situation. That’s what makes the postseason so exciting: you never know who will play the hero on any given day.

Reliever John Schreiber retired the first two batters he faced when he was ordered to keep the Royals out of the picture. He starts Volpe with an elevated cutter of 130 km/h.

Even though this throw was a ball almost entirely from Schreiber’s hand, it was by no means an easy take. Schreiber throws his sinker more than his cutter about ten percent of the time, and a sinker with this aim point would likely land over the center of the plate. Even if Volpe reads the fastball accurately offhand, there’s about a 50/50 chance it will end up in or out of the zone.

Schreiber changes speed to a much more flexible breaker and nails his spot on the corner low and away with a 1-0 sweeper.

I like this approach because Volpe can’t do much with this field. You can tell he reads the breaking ball early and expects the pitch to break just outside the zone, but Schreiber can paint black for a called strike. It’s better to take the offense and fight another day than to swing and risk the inning ending with weak contact.

Now that he’s gotten a called trick right on the corner, the obvious move for Schreiber is to double down on the sweeper and throw it a little further low and away to see if he can get Volpe to chase down another called trick or even steal.

Instead, Schreiber bounces the field into the mud near home plate for a relatively easy take. Volpe’s previous two swing decisions might not look like much in a vacuum – a called strike and a straightforward look at a ball in the mud – but Volpe was the worst hitter in baseball against the sweeper during the regular season with a minus- 6. Statcast Run Value and both throws would have easily been a whiff or weak dribbler if he was really struggling over the summer.

Schreiber seems to get back into the count with a 2-1 cut.

The catcher sets a low target, but Schreiber’s early release means he ends up well off the plate for another fairly simple take.

While the count is clearly in Volpe’s favor, 3-1, it’s still a field of pressure. Are you in attack mode because this is probably the best pitch you can hit in the AB? Or do you play it conservatively with a chance to take the lead during a free run? Volpe will likely key in on a specific pitch in a specific location and leave the bat on his shoulder for everything else.

There’s not much you can do here except tip your hat to a perfectly executed 3-1 sinker. The ball starts well away from the plate, so it’s easy to give it up out of hand, only to watch the foot and a half sideways move send it disappearing back over the corner for a called strike. It’s a particularly nasty throw considering Volpe has seen four throws in a row move away from him, further automatically taking it out of hand.

Suddenly, the Yankees are one strike away from blowing their best chance at a decisive lead. So far everything is gone except the misplayed 2-1 cutter, so Schreiber sees his opportunity to attack the inside edge with a sinker that lands on Volpe’s hands in hopes of setting up the soft contact that ends the inning.

This is excellent bat control from Volpe to fight off the pitch and stay alive, with Volpe not wanting to do more than force Schreiber to at least throw another pitch.

The best pitch Schreiber has thrown so far was the 3-1 sinker that Volpe gave up. He tries to end this encounter by replicating that delivery.

What a take! Volpe recognizes the sinker so he understands how the pitch will move as it approaches the plate. He also sees that this one starts a little further out than the one who just took the corner for called strike two, so he forces the umpire to make a decision, and fortunately for him and the Yankees, the umpire is consistent with his strike zone . and signals ball four to give the go-ahead.

Here is the full plate appearance:

During his first two seasons in the major leagues, Volpe has thus far failed to deliver as the hitter promised in his future pedigree. The Gold Glove-caliber defense is a pleasant and valuable surprise, but the reason the Yankees felt so safe committing to him as their long-term shortstop in his rookie year — salary savings aside — was the benefit of his bat, which has been left so utterly unused.

His advanced eye and fundamental skills were thought to provide a stable offensive floor, but those two elements are conspicuously missing. With a walk rate in the bottom quintile league-wide and a chase rate well below league average, his production is almost entirely tied to his BABIP, and he doesn’t hit the ball with enough authority – bottom ten percent league-wide which concerns expected slugging and expected wOBA – to make that a sustainable approach.

That’s why this whole plate performance is an encouragement for the rest of the playoffs. Although he would make a crucial error an inning later that allowed the Royals to take their third lead of the game, the Yankees did not win this game. After the win, Aaron Boone referred to the “tough hitting” that went on all game long that ultimately wore down the opposing pitching staff, and the team will need to return to this approach if they want to advance past this round and beyond.