There was plenty of concern from fans this past off-season when the Yankees signed Hiroki Kuroda to a one year free agent contract. Fans questioned the idea of signing a National League pitcher to throw in the highly competitive AL East. Those feelings of disappointment only got worse when Kuroda got clobbered by the Tampa Bay Rays in his regular season debut. But no ones belly aching now.
Kuroda was as good as it gets Tuesday in tossing a complete game 2-hit shutout against the dangerous Texas Rangers. For the second straight night Nick Swisher delivered the big hit, this time a 2-run home run in the 7th , to ignite a 3-0 Yankees victory. The win guaranteed the Yankees no worse than a split of the four game series.
Matt Harrison wasn't nearly as sharp as Kuroda, but he managed to put goose eggs up on the board through the first six innings. Manager Ron Washington pulled his lefty starter after Derek Jeter reached with a one out single in the 7th. Hard throwing right-hander Alexi Ogando came on to face Swisher, who turned around to bat from the left side. A great battle ensued that ended when Swisher turned on the 8th pitch of the sequence, a 98-mph fastball, and put it in the seats for a 2-0 lead. It was Swisher's grand slam that turned the tide in Monday's series opening victory.
One thing that baseball has proven time and time again is that it doesn't matter how hard you throw if your ball doesn't move. Ogando found that out four pitches later, when Mark Teixeira ripped a line drive off a 99-mph fastball into the seats for a 3-0 Yankees' advantage.
Then it was time to watch Kuroda work the final two innings. He had spun a no-no through six innings and had the crowd and YES announcers buzzin. Those at home sat up a little straighter and moved closer to the edge of their leather couch. Not that I am speaking from experience or, um, anything. Rangers' shortstop Elvis Andrus broke things up when he hit a slow bouncer back up the middle to start the 7th. Yankees' shortstop Jayson Nix made a diving stop, but his throw was not nearly in time or accurate.
Andrus eventually made it to third base with two down, but Kuroda got Nelson Cruz to ground out to end the inning. Mike Young led off the 8th with the Rangers only other hit, but Kuroda induced a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of David Murphy to quickly erase Young from the base paths. The outs were two of the 17 that Kuroda got via a ground ball. He also struck out five and picked up his second complete game shutout of the season, though his prior shutout was a rain-shortened seven inning affair against Toronto back in July.
In fact, it was just the fourth career complete game and shutout of the Japanese veteran's five year career in the US. It was the Yankees first complete game shutout since CC Sabathia tossed one against the Rays on July 10, 2011.
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