Johnson’s 5-Hitter Leads Yankees To Sweep of Pirates
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After 2 1/2 months of struggles, Randy Johnson has found his groove.
Johnson reached double digits in strikeouts for the first time this season and pitched a five-hitter last night, leading the Yankees to a 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that completed a three-game sweep.
With perhaps his sharpest slider of the season, Johnson dominated from the start, throwing his first 13 pitches for strikes and 20 of his opening 21. He went to 0-2 counts on 10 of his first 18 batters and finished with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
“Every time he goes out there and shows that kind of stuff he showed early on, everybody thinks a no-hitter,” Joe Torre said.
While he didn’t get the no-hitter, Johnson’s 205th career double-digit strikeout game left him 10 shy of Nolan Ryan’s record.
Winning consecutive starts for only the second time this year, Johnson (7-5) got his 253rd win, tying Carl Hubbell for 40th on the career list. He extended his scoreless streak to 10 innings before allowing Michael Restovich’s opposite-field homer in the fourth.
“Most of you guys have written my eulogy last month,” Johnson told reporters.”I’m not done. I’ve got a lot of fire in me.”
Johnson lost his previous three starts to the Pirates, getting a total of three runs of support. For the second consecutive start, he threw to John Flaherty, the Yankees’ backup catcher, instead of Jorge Posada.
“At times I felt really good with my mechanics in April. In May, I felt good at times,” Johnson said. “Things just get blown out of proportion here. You give up a couple of runs and you lose 3-1 or something, the world’s coming to an end.”
At 33-32, the Yankees are over .500 for the first time since they were 28-27 on June 4.
“We just have to make up for the lost time now,” Torre said. “We can’t be proud of ourselves yet.”
Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer in the first off Oliver Perez (5-5), and New York made it 4-0 in the second when Jason Giambi hit a long RBI double and scored on Robinson Cano’s single. Gary Sheffield added a bloop, two-run, ground-rule double in the fourth that bounced just in front of a sliding Restovich in left.
