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NEW YORK – Tomoyuki Sugano’s future is up in the air with free agency approaching for the first time in the U.S.
Fewer fly balls might prolong his career, wherever he’s pitching next year.
Sugano surrendered three more home runs today and they came in the first two innings. Aaron Judge hit his 53rd, Giancarlo Stanton his 24th and third in two games, and Ryan McMahon his 20th. No one has allowed more in the American League.
The solo shots led the Yankees to a 6-1 victory over the Orioles before an announced sellout crowd of 46,085 in the penultimate game of the regular season.
The Orioles are 75-86 and assured of a last-place finish in the division. They can’t nudge the Rays out of fourth place.
The club record for most home runs from a pitcher in a season is 41 by Dylan Bundy in 2018. Jeremy Guthrie, Scott McGregor, Sidney Ponson and Robin Roberts are tied with 35. Sugano can put away the glove after opponents hit 12 over his last six starts.
Judge launched a sweeper after Sugano retired the first two batters in the first inning. He was 6-for-7 with two homers against Sugano before today.
Stanton led off the second by sending a fastball 427 feet at 110.2 mph, a typical jaw-dropping demolition. McMahon barreled a splitter with two outs, his ball traveling 401 feet at 108.1 mph.
Bases were circled much the same way that the Orioles’ season went down the drain.
Stanton's 453rd career home run broke a tie with Carl Yastrzemski for 40th place on the all-time list.
Sugano was charged with four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings and finished the season with a 4.64 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Grant Wolfram let an inherited runner score in the fifth, and two of his own, after walking his first two batters to load the bases. Sugano came within three homers of tying Yusei Kikuchi in 2019 for most by a rookie in the majors.
Asked whether the long ball was Sugano's biggest challenge, Mansolino said, “I think that’s fair."
"We saw some pretty good stretches of Tomo," he said. "Facing this Yankees lineup twice in a span of two starts, that’s not an easy task by any means, especially with, Stanton and Judge seem to be heating up quite a bit here for their stretch run. But no doubt. You give up that many home runs, it’s not gonna be a big positive and I think going forward if he’s gonna be in the league, kind of cutting that number down a little bit will help him immensely.”
No one on the club made more starts than Sugano’s 30, and his 157 innings are second to Dean Kremer’s 170 1/3. He's the fifth Japanese-born pitcher with at least 30 starts. And he confirmed again today that he'd like to pitch in the majors next season.
“Obviously, the first third of the season, I felt like everything went too well and the middle part of the season there was a like a wall where I hit," he said via interpreter Yuto Sakurai. "Overall, I got to experience a lot of things.”
Familiarity wasn’t doing Sugano any favors today. He faced the Yankees four times, including the most recent start before today, when he tied his season low with only three innings.
Judge had a two-run single off Wolfram, recalled earlier today, after plate umpire Ramon De Jesus ejected Yankees manager Aaron Boone for arguing a strike call. Cody Bellinger’s fly ball increased the lead to 6-0.
Stanton walked and Wolfram nailed Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the left forearm, forcing him out of the game. X-rays were negative but he will undergo a CT scan.
Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler didn’t allow a hit until Gunnar Henderson doubled with one out in the fourth inning. He drilled Jeremiah Jackson and Coby Mayo in the fifth, sandwiched around two strikeouts, and earned a mound visit from pitching coach Matt Blake.
Tyler O’Neill singled with two outs in the sixth to give the Orioles their second hit of the afternoon.
Schlittler blanked the Orioles on two hits in seven innings and Mayo greeted Paul Blackburn in the eighth with a first-pitch home run, his 11th of the season. Mayo is 17-for-43 (.395) with four homers in his last 14 games with an at-bat.
He's an exception.
The Orioles have registered a .215 average since the deadline. They're last or next-to-last in pretty much every offensive category.
“Tough situation with that the last couple months for that group of hitters," Mansolino said. "We know and it’s well-documented at this point, and we are incredibly accountable for it that we need to get that fixed. So not acceptable by any means.
"The league is tough. We have faced tough competition, but so has everybody else and we’re aware of that. And that’s really gonna be for this organization what has to get done is making that priority No. 1 here this winter is grabbing that group of young hitters and getting them back on track.”
Samuel Basallo struck out twice, went 0-for-3 and lowered his average to .165 with a .559 OPS. Beavers struck out three times, went 0-for-4 and is batting .231 with a .778 OPS.
“And not dissimilar to all the other young hitters in the league," Mansolino said. "And again, I’ve said it, it’s not just our young hitters. Young hitters across the major leagues are struggling. It’s actually more rare for those guys to come in and just have seamless transitions than not. So we are accountable for our guys and we do know we’ve got to kind of help those guys forward. And yes, I do think the league has adjusted to these guys in a lot of ways.
"Now, I think the positive from both is they’ve kind of supplied some of our biggest moments here late in games against some of the toughest late-inning guys, so the future is incredibly bright for those guys, but is there things we need to do to help those guys and those guys need to do to help themselves? No doubt.”
Jackson Holliday went 0-for-4 with a strikeout to lower his average to .242 with a .315 on-base percentage and .691 OPS. He still leads the club with 17 home runs.
Asked to grade himself, Holliday said, "I don’t know, I’d probably give myself a C. I’ve learned a lot and obviously had some pretty good moments in the season and struggled at the same time. But I’m excited to improve next year and learn how to stay consistent, and that’s something that I’ll be thinking about a lot in the offseason, is how I can perform the entire year opposed to a month here and there. I’m excited for the stuff that I learned, it’s something we’ve talked about. But yeah, not bad but not great."
Right knee soreness provided another challenge for Holliday.
“It’s manageable," he said. "I kind of felt like a wuss after getting an MRI and it was only inflammation. But it’s something that’s been bothering me for a while and it kind of just flared up. Stuff you’ve got to play through if you want to play in October, but, yeah, feel fine.”
October will have to wait.
"I’m pretty confident," Holliday said. "I think everyone in this clubhouse isn’t exactly having the year that they would want or think that they can have. So for us to kind of have a down year and still put up a pretty decent season, I’m pretty confident in this team."
