Daily dose of Yordan (ALDS Game 2)

Today's statline: 1-2, 2 BB, RBI, R

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At bat 1 (Bottom of second): 8 pitch walk

As expected, the White Sox rolled out Lucas Giolito to pitch game 2, someone who I thought Yordan did not have a particularly good matchup against. It looked like that at first in this at bat as well, as the at bat started with Yordan watching an offspeed pitch low and in the zone for a strike and then swinging and missing at a slider in his sweet spot, slightly out of the zone down and away. Down 0-2, the odds didn't look good for Yordan, but instead of folding he buckled down, taking that same slider to make it a 1-2 count and then taking consecutive pitches high and outside to make the count full. Having worked back into the count, Yordan capped off the at bat by fouling off the two definitive pitches of the at bat so far, a slider low and inside and a high fastball, to stay alive. Having stayed alive and in a situation where Giolito had to throw a fastball to him, Yordan didn't push things, and instead took Giolito's 8th pitch, a low fastball, to take his base, working from down 0-2 to work the walk. Although he was erased on the bases immediately after by a Gurriel fielder's choice, this was a magnificent at bat by Yordan, and in particular I was extremely impressed by how he layed off difficult Giolito offspeed pitches and high fastballs to make a winning play.

At bat 2 (Bottom of third): 1 pitch foul out to catcher

Coming off such a good at bat, it was reasonable for Yordan to be a bit more aggressive on the first pitch this time, having taken a bunch of high hittable pitches the previous at bat. This was indeed the case, as Giolito threw Yordan a nice changeup high in the zone but definitely hittable. Unfortunately, Yordan was way under on it, hitting a lazy foul pop fly that was caught by the catcher. It's not often that someone like him misses like that on a hittable pitch, hopefully he gets a better swing off next time up.

At bat 3 (Bottom of fifth): 6 pitch walk

The Astros lineup strung together consecutive good at bats before Yordan, meaning that Giolito got a pretty short hook in favor of Garrett Crochet (for a second straight game???). Unlike game 1 though, where Yordan looked completely outmatched vs Crochet, Yordan took a much more measured approach verses Crochet's heat. In fact, it was almost like he knew exactly what Crochet was going to throw and where, as he started the at bat up 2-0 after taking two inside fastballs, hard fouled off two in the zone in between another inside one off the plate (although this one was near his hands rather than low and inside) and finally took a fastball down and outside (somewhere that I originally considered a problem area for him) for a ball to work the walk and load the bases. Very impressed by him here, after yesterday's at bat I expected Crochet to pound him low and outside, but Yordan did a great job today to take all of the junk fastballs off the plate, time up his swing on the ones in the zone, and ultimately make the winning play instead of swinging at a bad pitch to pad his stats. He would make it to second on a huge 2-run single by Gurriel, but wouldn't score as he was erased on a Correa double play to end the inning.

At bat 4 (Bottom of seventh): 3 pitch single to center, RBI, R

Yordan faced the 3rd different pitcher in the game today, as in a tie game La Russa chose to bring in Aaron Bummer to face Yordan with two runners on. In the ALDS preview, I heavily emphasized how Yordan needed to seek out a hittable fastball in the zone to have success here, and he took this to heart. Bummer threw two noncompetitive fastballs low and outside, and Yordan took both of them to work ahead 2-0. This forced Bummer to throw a fastball in the zone, and just like I predicted Yordan did damage on it, lining it into right center field for the tiebreaking single that scored Altuve. This hit, while merely ok in a vacuum, would become extremely important later in the inning, as he scored later on a Correa double that was part of a huge inning. None of this happens without Yordan putting together a quality at bat and keeping the line moving.

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Pitch data:

Fastball – 12

8 taken for ball, 3 foul, 1 put in play (single)

Slider – 3

1 strike swinging, 1 foul, 1 taken for ball

Changeup – 3

1 taken for strike, 1 taken for ball, 1 put in play (foul out)

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Another great game today for Yordan. While it may not have been as flashy as his HR and 2B game from yesterday, the underlying fundamentals he showed today were just as good as game 1. Specifically, his mastery of the fastball continued today, as he didn't swing and miss at a single one and took 2/3 of them for balls. This great discipline against the White Sox's bread and butter pitch (high fastballs) allowed him to get into good counts and allow his teammates to get more opportunities, which was key today. Again, I would have liked him to do more with the few offspeed pitches that were sprinkled in throughout the game, but that's just nitpicking at this point, as Yordan clearly knows at this point how to attack the White Sox pitchers. With the season on the line, it's a good bet that Liam Hendriks will be pitching in game 3 though, so him possibly facing Yordan should be interesting to watch. Either way a great game for Yordan and the Astros today, hopefully they complete the sweep on Sunday to advance to their 5th consecutive ALCS.