Daily dose of Yordan (ALCS Game 1)

Today's stats: 0-2, 2 BB, K

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At bat 1 (bottom of first): 4 pitch walk

Coming up for the first time to bat against Taillon, Yordan's first at bat was a quick one, as Taillon refused to throw him anything over the heart of the plate he could hit. Yordan took 4 consecutive inside pitches, all out of the zone and nibbling the outside corners, to take first base. He would not score, however, as despite runners on first and second Bregman and Tucker got out to end the inning.

At bat 2 (bottom of third): 2 pitch flyout to center

Taillon again started the at bat off by nibbling the corner on a fastball up, but this time it caught the zone for strike one. On the next pitch, Yordan swung away again on a similar fastball high but in the zone, but wasn't able to barrel it up in time, resulting in a well hit but routine fly ball that was caught for the first out of the inning.

At bat 3 (bottom of fifth): Intentional walk

With Pena having reached on a double to chase Taillon out of the game, Yordan came up to face Clark Schmidt in a critical chance to break the tie. Unfortunately, he would get no shot to do so, as Aaron Boone wisely chose to intentionally walk him to set up the double play. This would end up working out, as Tucker would later ground into a double play that ended the inning and kept the game scoreless. Overall a quiet night for Yordan, but he's done his job to keep the chains moving on the limited diet the Yankees have given him.

At bat 4 (bottom of seventh): 5 pitch swinging strikeout

Late in the game and looking to widen the lead after a Pena homer in front of him, Yordan finally got a chance to get hittable pitches, with Frankie Montas having to pitch to him. In contrast to Taillon's upper corner nibbling, Montas chose to throw low to Yordan, with two consecutive fastballs low (one obviously outside, another called a borderline strike) to put him in a 1-1 count. Then Yordan had an uncharacteristic swing and miss on a splitter away, likely due to his rust and surprise at seeing an offspeed pitch low in his usual sweet spot. Montas then threw back to back fastballs high, one that Yordan hard fouled to keep alive but another that he simply waved at for a strikeout.

Despite the mediocre counting stats, I think Yordan did a decent job today considering the pitches he was given and the chances he had. The Yankees made it very clear early that Yordan was not going to get any drivable pitches, and despite this, he made decent contact on the fastballs he could find, while also spitting on the inside junk that would have been easy ground balls had he swung, The Astros were able to get the job done today largely without him, so this gives me hope that with an adjusted plate approach and some time he'll be able to make an impact even without swinging the bat.