That was the reaction the Yankees were hoping for about a month ago when they rested Marcus Stroman after consecutive awful starts.
Stroman used the nine days between fights to work on his mechanics.
Those adjustments paid off.
The veteran right-hander has been a different pitcher since that brief break.
He continued his momentum on Friday night, pitching seven innings and allowing nine hits in a 6-3 win over the Cardinals at the Stadium.
“I feel like he's off every pitch,” said catcher Austin Wells, who hit two two-run homers in the win. “He's hitting it in better spots than he's been hitting it in before, and it's coming along really well.”
Stroman has now pitched well in four straight games, allowing just six runs in 23 innings.
He pitched at least five innings in all four games, with three of those games being Yankees victories.
This was his best performance of the four innings mentioned above, as it gave the Yankees a lot of time to play and came on the heels of the Yankees' disappointing series loss to the Nationals.
“I was really happy with my motion. I felt like I was pitching well,” said Stroman, who went 10-6 and lowered his ERA to 3.81 in his first season with the Yankees. “I felt like my sinker was pretty good. If my sinker is good, I can base my pitches off of that. That's my bread and butter. If I can keep it in the zone, I feel like I'm not hurting them that much most of the time.”
Stroman didn't miss many at-bats, striking out just five, but allowed just one extra base hit — a double by Paul Goldschmidt in the second inning — and got better as the game went on.
He took minimal at-bats over the final four innings thanks to two double plays, and struck out the Cardinals in order in the seventh.
“I thought he was at his best in the sixth and seventh innings,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he was going to be the reserve in the sixth and seventh innings, but I thought he finished really strong. … I felt like he was pitching a little bit more crisp, whether that be a mile an hour or whatever. [faster]I don't know. But when I look at it from the side, it seems a little sharper.”
