The New York Yankees sweep a doubleheader and have a shutout of the day

The New York Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs twice on Wednesday.  They played a day night doubleheader which took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York.  The Yankees won game one 3-0 and game two 2-0.  It was a great day of pitching for the Yankees with Masahiro Tanaka dominating in game one and Michael Pineda pitching very well in game two.  The Yankees bullpen was able to close out the games without an issue.  The Yankees offense wasn't great but they were able to do enough. 

Tanaka in game one pitched eight innings giving up two singles, no runs.  He walked one and struck out ten and earned his second victory of the season.  Pineda in game two pitched six innings giving up three hits and no runs.  He walked one and struck out three and earned his second win of the season.  In game one Shawn Kelley picked up his fourth save of the season giving up a hit and striking out one in one inning.  In game two the Yankees used David Phelps, Matt Thornton and Adam Warren.  Warren picked up his first career save after walking one in one inning.  Thornton gave up a hit and had a strikeout and Phelps gave up a hit and a walk in 1 1/3 scoreless innings. 

The Yankees offense in the night game had two hits each from Beltran, Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki and Scott Sizemore.  Sizemore also had an RBI.  Brett Gardner had a hit and an RBI, John Ryan Murphy who was just called up had a hit.  Derek Jeter in his return had a hit, Yangervis Solarte had a hit and drew a walk and Beltran hit a double.  The Yankees were 4-12 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.  In the fourth Gardner had an RBI single and in the fifth Sizemore had an RBI single to complete the scoring. 

In the first game the Yankees only managed five hits.  Gardner had a hit, Beltran had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk.  Brian McCann had a hit, Solarte drew two walks and Kelly Johnson had a hit.  Dean Anna had an RBI, Ellsbury and Gardner each hit a double and Beltran hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 1-8 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.  Ellsbury had a stolen base.  Beltran hit a solo homerun in the first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth Anna hit a sacrifice fly to increase the Yankees lead to 2-0 and in the fifth Ellsbury grounded out and a run scored.  It was a very odd play as their was catcher interference and at first Ellsbury went to first and Gardner went back to third.  I didn't even realize that there was a rarely used rule 8.02 c.  It states that if the ball is put in play the manager of the offense has the right to refuse the interference and accept the action of the play.  This is basically like in the NFL where you can decline a penalty, the Yankees did that in this case and a run scored in sacrifice of the out.  I would of done the same thing because in a low scoring game who knows if they would have scored that third run.  They didn't end up needing it in the end but you never know. 

The Yankees completed their home stand at 6-3 and with a record of 9-6.  They have won four games in a row and are in first place in the AL East.  They will head to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays in a four game series beginning Thursday night.