DETROIT — There is more than one way for the Yankees to get it done. The bombers may be built for power, but Anthony Rizzo thinks the scratching and clawing to win games they have done in the early season will pay off. Wednesday night, Rizzo did both. He hammered his fourth home run of the season, doubled, scored on an infield single and stole a base. It all added up to the Yankees’ 5-3 win over the Tigers at Comerica Park.
It was the second straight win for the Yankees (7-5) and just the third time this season the Bombers’ bats have scored more than four runs.
“I think with games like this in parks like this, you need to scratch away scratch runs,” the first baseman said. “No, it’s early and guys have been selfless with their bunts, getting guys over. That’s winning baseball. Or you can scratch and claw one or two runs in tough games when it’s not going the way you want to go. We’ll just be better for it in the long run.”
The Yankees got all that from Rizzo and another strong night from shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had his fourth multi-hit game and first RBI as a Yankee.
But it wasn’t just the bats that scratched and clawed Wednesday. Starter Luis Severino wasn’t sharp, but the right-hander gave the Yankees five innings allowing just one run.
“He wasn’t great. He didn’t necessarily have his best stuff, but I thought he navigated really well. He made really big pitches and I thought he finished great,” Aaron Boone said. “Told him after the fourth (he was) going back out but it’s a pretty short leash and and I thought it was his best inning; a really clean delivery, finished with the top of the order and really, I thought was throwing the ball really well to finish strong.”
Through 12 games, the Yankees pitching has been its strength. Before Wednesday’s game, the Yankees were 20th in the majors in runs scored. First-year hitting coach Dillon Lawson reiterated that the hitters were settling in and the underlying numbers he cares about were indicating that they were on the way to breaking out.
“Everyone’s human,” Lawson said about the Yankees’ meager offensive production so far this season. “When you put hard work and effort into anything and then same thing with your career you want to reap the reward. So of course there are frustrations with it. But this is baseball and we’re in a day and age of baseball where pitching is amazing and ever evolving. And so the frustrations are daily for hitters. It isn’t anything that we’re not used to.”
He said the players working through the process would make them more comfortable and lead to production.
“They take comfort in that and know that the game of baseball is always going to be frustrating for hitters and position players,” Lawson added. “But their hard work and effort is going to be rewarded.”
For Kiner-Falefa, who was part of the package the Yankees traded Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela for last month, it was simply getting settled with a new team and remembering what type of hitter he is supposed to be.
“Just grinding and getting my confidence back and I kind of forgot who I am,” Kiner-Falefa said. “What I do and my game a little bit. So just getting back to who I am and what I do best.”
Kiner-Falefa and Kyle Higashioka singled with one out in the third. Kiner-Falefa scored from second on Aaron Judge’s double and the second run came in on Rizzo’s ground out. Kiner-Falefa drove in his first run as a Yankee in the seventh with a line-drive single to center. Rizzo’s homer came off lefty Eduardo Rodriguez in the sixth inning with his double happening in the eighth. He stole third base — his second of the season — and scored on DJ LeMahieu’s infield single.
It may not be the powerful offense the Yankees expected, but it worked.
“Everyday in this league is a grind and putting good at bats together is the key,” Rizzo said. “Collectively put good at bats together you’ll have success.”
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