DDoY (Game 99)

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

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

Yordan saw 4 pitches this at bat, all of them balls, to take his base and load the bases. He first watched a low inside curve near his feet for ball one, and then watched another fastball, also inside but near his hands for ball two. He then watched another curve low to make the count 3-0 and then took a high fastball outside for the easy 4 pitch walk. Good at bat here by him, taking some tough pitches he probably would have swung at yesterday. He would end up moving to second on a Correa walk right after him, but wouldn't score, as the next two batters made outs.

At bat 2 (Bottom of third): 1 pitch sacrifice fly to right, RBI

Yordan got a nice first pitch in the at bat, a fastball inside but near his hands, and he punched it hard to right, but unfortunately right to the right fielder who made the routine catch. It was deep enough for a chugging Brantley to score easily on and pushed Gurriel to third. Obviously not the best outcome in the world, but a good job by him here to analyze the situation here (no outs, need a run in this situation) and drive home the run and push the runners up. His smart sac fly here also allowed Gurriel to score on a sac fly by Correa right after Yordan.

At bat 3 (Bottom of fifth): 4 pitch single to center

Yordan started the at bat very much like how he ended the second, with an inside fastball near his hands that he fouled off. He then watched another fastball, this one high and outside to even the count, and then watched an offspeed pitch in the dirt to make it 2-1. Then on the next pitch Gibson hung a fastball low and inside but in the zone, right in Yordan's sweetspot. He pulled it to center field for a clean single, unfortunately Gurriel, trying to score from first, was thrown out at home by a good throw by the center fielder. No RBI, but that shouldn't take away from the good job Yordan did waiting for a pitch that he could handle and spitting on some good pitches from Gibson.

At bat 4 (Bottom of seventh): 1 pitch home run to right, RBI, R

Facing the new reliever, former Dodgers farmhand Josh Sborz, Yordan wasted no time getting ready, as Sborz gave him an easy inside low 97 MPH fastball in his favorite spot to start the at bat. Yordan rocked it to right field, around 5 rows deep for his 18th home run of the year. Just a great swing by him here, the replay clearly shows Yordan knew right off the bat where that ball was going right as he hit it. Also very nice to see him seek out and swing hard at first pitches when they're appetizing, hopefully that's a trend that continues.

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Overall an extremely solid game by Yordan today, doing everything from the little things (moving up runners with a sac fly) to doing the dirty work himself with a home run. He didn't swing at a single bad pitch today, great to see his discipline and coordination at such a good level after some down games. Hopefully it's the start of a hot streak, he could really use one.