Ask Aaron Boone what has gotten into Giancarlo Stanton lately, and the Yankees manager will tell you that the 35-year-old has “mastered” the mental side of baseball.
Such was the case on Tuesday before the Yankees hosted the Nationals.
“He knows how to get himself ready,” Boone explained. “He knows how to prepare for a pitcher. He knows how to play the game within the game, that cat and mouse thing with the pitcher, really good.”
Boone delivered those comments hours before Stanton powered the Yankees’ 5-1 win over the Nationals, as he first emptied loaded bases with a 101.6-mph double off MacKenzie Gore in the third inning. A 112.7-mph, two-run homer off Orlando Ribalta followed in the sixth, giving Stanton a season-high five RBI.
The explosive evening continued what has been a sensational surge for Stanton, who is batting .313 with a 1.051 OPS, a 187 wRC+, 17 home runs and 46 RBI over 51 games as he hits flyballs at a career-high clip. All of his home runs have come over his last 39 games, a period that has also seen him regularly return to the outfield because a flexor strain has limited Aaron Judge to DH duties.
Stanton has his own lingering tennis elbow injuries to deal with — the joints require consistent maintenance after forcing the slugger to miss the first two months of the season — but you wouldn’t know it from watching his violent swing or looking at his stats.
“This, I feel like — and it’s saying a lot — may be as good as I’ve seen him,” Boone said of the 2017 National League MVP.
With Stanton fueling the offense, Luis Gil gave the Yankees five innings of one-run ball.
The righty, only five starts into his season after suffering a lat injury in spring training, had a hard time with his command for the third straight start. Gil walked four batters while also totaling five hits, five strikeouts and 92 pitches before turning things over to the bullpen.
Gil also had one concerning mound visit, as Boone and a trainer checked on the flame-thrower in the fourth after he walked two batters and struggled with his velocity. Gil threw just two fastballs above 93 mph in the inning, but he stayed in the game and had no problem cracking 96 mph the following inning.
The fifth frame also saw Cody Bellinger gun down James Wood at the plate, preventing a run on Gil’s line after the left fielder wasn’t nearly as aggressive on a similar play in the third inning. That lack of urgency — and a double-clutch from Amed Rosario after cutting the throw off — allowed Robert Hassell III to score the Nationals’ only run of the game after blowing through a stop sign.
With Tuesday’s victory, the third-place Yankees have now won four of their last five series, though all of those series wins have come against sub-.500 teams. The only series loss in that stretch came against the second-place Red Sox, who took 3-of-4 from the Yankees at the end of last week.
With Boston also winning on Tuesday, the Yankees remain a half-game behind the Sox, who hold the American League’s top Wild Card spot.
