Daily dose of Yordan (Game 124)

Today's statline: 1-4, HR, RBI, R, K

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At bat 1 (Bottom of second): 1 pitch home run to center, RBI, R

The at bat started with Anderson throwing just a terrible fastball right in Yordan's wheelhouse, one flat and lifeless at 88 MPH low and away but still in the zone. Yordan got a great swing off on it, pulling it deep into right center field for a no-doubt home run that traveled 396 feet. The replay is particularly nice on this one, as you can see it's just a perfect pull happy swing that connected on Yordan's money pitch. Another thing to note, it's very nice to see him swinging aggressively at first pitches that are extremely hittable, as earlier in the year he was an automatic take for the first pitch that pitchers took advantage of. Always great to see him adjusting to how pitchers are throwing to him and doing well as a result.

At bat 2 (Bottom of third): 6 pitch strikeout swinging

Yordan started the at bat by taking a changeup inside and a sinker low, both for balls, and then watched a stone-cold fastball right down the middle for a strike. He then got off a pretty disappointing swing on yet another fastball, this one outside and low off the plate. He then watched another fastball near his hands for a very borderline ball (extremely good take) to load the count full, but then had a very uncharacteristic swing and miss on another fastball way out of the zone for the costly strikeout with two runners on base. He had two bad misses here, both on outside fastballs low in the zone, but overall his borderline takes on the inside and his discipline overall was still extremely impressive.

At bat 3 (Bottom of fifth): 5 pitch lineout to center

Facing Anderson for the third time today, Yordan started the at bat with a typical stone-cold strike down the middle watched for strike one, and then watched another classic inside fastball out of the zone for a ball. He then watched yet another juicy fastball right down the middle for a strike, and then adjusted from the previous at bat and took the fastball low and outside for a ball. He then got yet another inside fastball in his wheelhouse, and got off a very nice swing on it, slashing it into center field. Unfortunately, Kelenic got a nice running grab on it to end the inning. A disappointing end to the inning, but he did a great job adjusting from his previous at bat and taking the pitches he missed at last time.

At bat 4 (Bottom of eighth): 2 pitch flyout to left

Starting the at bat, Yordan started the at bat with a noncompetitive ball off the plate on a low fastball, and then he swung under a curveball from the new reliever and hit a lazy fly ball to left field for the easy first out. A substandard result, but to be fair it was his first offspeed pitch of the day (Anderson threw him only fastballs in the previous three at bats) so he was probably adjusting to the unfamiliar pitch he was seeing today.

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Yordan was replaced in left field for Brantley later in the ninth as part of a double switch, a questionable move that had major implications later in the game. Removing the defensively limited Yordan with a 1 run lead was the right move at the time, but ended up backfiring when the Astros needed to bat in the bottom of the tenth with a chance to walk it off. Yordan batting with the bases loaded and facing a righty without intimidating stuff probably ends the game, but the double switch led to a Jason Castro pinch hit appearance, which ended in a strikeout. Just some random thoughts.

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Pitch data:

Fastball – 12

2 put in play (lineout and home run), 3 strike looking, 5 out of zone, 2 strike swinging

Changeup – 1

1 out of zone

Curveball – 1

1 put in play (flyout)

Yordan was mostly fed a steady diet of fastballs today from Anderson, and he made the most of it, watching almost half of them for balls and hitting some well hit fly balls. He could have been a bit more productive on the strikes looking right down the middle, and also probably should have shown better discipline on the outside fastballs low and away, but overall his control of fastballs and in particular the inside half of the zone was a joy to watch. Another home run today (his third straight game with one), definitely looks like he's heating up. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.