Thank you very much, as Adam pointed out earlier, the pun in the title, talking about esteemed deck, opened up all the valves, he's going to kill me later, I'm ready at half-knife. Okay, who here has heard of esteemed deck by show of hands? Right, so my talk is explicitly for that warm guy here, so I'll make eye contact and ask you about it afterwards. Okay, so what's my talk going to be about? I'm going to talk through your device, the setup, and how KD integrates with all of this. I'm going to talk about what we've been working on as contractors, and I'm going to give some big thoughts on what this means for KD and everyone, and then I'm going to leave a lot of time for questions because I like seeing Adam run around. So what is esteemed deck? It's a device here, and you can see this lady is using it to play video games, a games console are having it in traffic, this lady is playing a game while mindlessly wandering into traffic, I'm pretty clear I'm not an official Valve spokesperson, you can use it without wandering into traffic, but it's a games console. But what makes it interesting is it's a Linux console, it's a Linux device under it. So out in the box, what does it do? Well, it boots into this very, very, very, very minimal desktop, Linux desktop environment called Gamescope, and Gamescope has one job, which is show a single full screen window as fast as possible, and it is very, very, very good at that one job, it's rubbish at anything else, very narrow target. So it's good for showing a game on a games device, and nothing to mention about this device, is your root file system is read only, or immutable if you want to show off, and that means you can't install any other apps by default, you can't, but you also can't break it. It's very easy, hackable, you can turn it off, but it's designed as a consumer device. So why am I talking about this at a KDE conference? Because of the next slide. Use your deck as a PC because it is warm, and what Valve are providing at very minimal environment isn't enough to use it as a PC, to access a PC, so it's supporting multiple monitors and doing all this setup involved in that, drag windows about, sort of printer drivers which are a pain, all of these complicated things you can't build very quickly, it's the sort of thing that takes 22 years to build, which is what we've been doing. So it took a very smart decision, stick KDE on your device, and that was Valve's vision. You put your deck, you can use it as a PC, and that saves you buying another device, buying another PC, and you're hooked into your warm device, it does many more things, and hooks you into that warm market store, which is where they came from it. And that's our opportunity to shine, it's where we come into our own element because they want a desktop, that's what we provide. So how does KDE on your device work? Hidden away in the power menu, press a button called switch to desktop, as highlighted by the yellow arrow instead of the red label, and you get a full desktop experience. If you want to know what plasma looks like on a steam deck, just open your own laptop because it's the same but slightly smaller. And out of the box, you're not just shipping plasma, you're also shipping a handful of KDE applications, Dolphin, Arc, Gwendu, but not that many. But we have discovered, and even though some of the root file system is read-only, you can still add the flat packs applications into your own home directory. So discovered available in desktop mode, and any app available on FlatHub can be easily downloaded and installed. And quite an interesting twist on this, is once the application is downloaded and installed, you can then load them from that very fast single-user Damescope mode. So you can grab the app there and still not have to go to the desktop when you want to use that one app. You've got your desktop mode when you need something very powerful. So we talked about how you can plug it in and use it as a PC, but it's also a portable device, and you can use it as a portable device. You can run plasma without plugging in an external monitor and a mouse and a keyboard. So you can see it here, I'll just go to a more overhead screenshot so you can see what it looks like. And we're trying to provide that full desktop experience. It's that menu looks the same, Dolphin, it's a window you can drag it around and you can interact exactly as you would. And it's quite an interesting device, it's very unique compared to any other device I've seen before because, working from plasma, because you have a touch screen, so mouse input is sorted, but you have a trackpad, so mouse input is sorted. It's another trackpad, so mouse input is sorted, and you've got a joystick which you can use to control your mouse. So mouse input is sorted, it's also an accelerometer in here, and many people on the internet see social media people said, we can hook this up to control your mouse. So, pretty well covered from mice, but keyboard is still lacking. So we do have a virtual keyboard option, and you press a key combination, it invokes. So it's an interesting device because it's not something you see in many other situations of that many mice, no keyboard. So how are people using a deck? A steam deck has been shipping for a couple of months now, and we've seen it used in ways maybe not as expected. So we're seeing people booth into the desktop mode to configure that gaming mode, a go in, install some emulators, which is a small enough task that you can do with just the mouse and the virtual keyboard, and do your mods so you can customise your boot splash, you can modify a few files, and doing mods and customisation, and then you're using your file manager as a way of tweaking. Another thing we saw was people using a desktop mode to fulfil missing functionality of the gamescope mode, because on day zero of launch there are things missing, it was complicated wi-fi, when Valve were making at UI, it didn't come out as some radius server where you need to download a file in advance and ship it in a swell older. But the support forums had an easy answer to the Twitter desktop mode, did all of this, and it's all network manager on this stack, it's all shared, and then you can go back. So it was being used as a crux. People with Bluetooth headphones, you need to select a white codex that's not quite as good, Valve don't necessarily need it in their UI, it keeps it nice and simple, but there's an option. So we're fulfilling that gap of just filling in these niche requirements, arguably you could call it missing functionality, but we're able to sort of drill down into the details, but also bigger features, like if you want to record your screen while you're sharing a game and streaming, because that's what people are doing nowadays, or if you're taking your screenshots and you want to copy it to an SD card or upload it to a cloud, you can't really do that in the gaming mode, but you've got a full desktop experience with you already, you don't have to go home and plug it in. And then things get even more creative. So I've taken some photos from social media, and this guy is plugging in some GNU radio, I never understand GNU radio, but it's got cool plots, and they're always across them, and he's probably doing something illegal, but people going on social media saying, well I've got my deck, it's easy to use as a PC, but it's not as big and bulky as a laptop, but more flexible to use than a phone. I don't think you struggle to do this sort of thing on a phone about a lot of work, maybe on a plasma mobile, but even there you don't have as many mice. So it's really coming into its own form factor in ways that we weren't seeing. And in this guy, a genuine post from social media a couple of days ago, I went to a conference but forgot my laptop, so I'm using my Steam Deck, and he's had it with him, probably playing games when he should have been concentrating, but then opened up a text editor, word processor, and they made it work. And I'm using my Steam Deck to present, so that's what I win in your face guy on Reddit, but we're seeing it using these sort of creative ways. But we're also seeing people using it properly, as expected. Again, going to social media posts, anyone else using your deck is a desktop, and if you look for your comments, there's enough people saying, yeah, it works, great. And one thing I think I found interesting is we've had Katie on laptops and such in the past, but in a laptop there's an expectation, I think we see, or if you've got a laptop, it must behave identical to Windows if you're a new user or it's rubbish, and people have that expectation. But when things are slightly different, even when you're plugging in a mouse and keyboard, because they weren't really expecting a desktop when they set out to buy it, it doesn't value on. They're happy with it, they're happy to experiment that little bit more and go, oh, maybe different, but I like it, it's different. I'm pleased with that. So this was a quote from our contact at Valve. Desktop mode has been used a lot more than we expected. I'm going to skip ahead. And this is all done to the hard work of Edwoman Crady.  You've wasted your flap. Don't do it again. That's enough because this talk is all about me and my team and what we've been working on. So that's a device. But how did we get there? So blue systems were contacted by Valve. We got in touch. We knew they wanted to do something with Plasma. And we also got some assistance from Enioka later on in this journey. To work on very specific areas of Plasma, places where Valve has said, I think we can do this a little bit better. Because that's heterogative, that's what they should have as users. I mean, they're users, they're shipping to clients. So when they contacted us, we didn't know about the Steam Deck. We weren't hired for that. It was a secret. I assume they knew. I don't know if they knew. But they gave some work saying, we're going to do something with Plasma. So we started off and mostly didn't do many Steam Deck-specific tasks. Partly because they had this vision of using it as a desktop. But that didn't matter because Valve cared about building an ecosystem regardless. That was a phrase they constantly repeat, build an ecosystem. Because it's in their interests for Linux to get better. On Linux, they are the store where you get games.  So it makes sense as a good partnership. So to get away from those other stores that Alice was talking about on Windows and Android and other things. Rather than competing, it's in their interests for a new market to fight. Which means Plasma and Noam and everyone getting as more users. So they really care about that. So we did get some in-kings about Steam Deck. Because occasionally they would say, oh, there's a touch-in for it in this application.  And then it'd scurry away and say no. So, but obviously at some point we knew. So what have we been doing for Valve? One of the earlier tasks was improving resource management, resource visualisation. So it's a network graph in case this guard got added first. And we end up building a whole new monitor with GPU information and new GPU memory use and GPU. Because that's what games are more interested in. And we added a new system monitor with desktop widgets that's been talked about in a previous academy. And all of these bullet points you could do half an hour talks on. I won't because of the Internet schedule. Another big part, system settings. And this is a work from Enioka. And if you have any questions, please go to Kevin. I'm sure he'll be really pleased to hear about him. Highlight change settings. System settings is always a very difficult topic. You open it up and it's just... Settings everywhere and you've changed something. Something stops working. You don't know what is changed. How do you go about it? How do you easily go about and fix that?  We is a button added in system settings. You press it and then you can see which settings have you changed from the default and the default provided by a look and feel and the default provided by a system. There are always different layers that happen. And with that, we also found that revert to default button as in every KTM. It didn't work in so many cases because it's the sort of thing where a developer writes once and goes, that works. And then somebody comes along and goes, I'm going to add a new config option. But do they think about testing at button? Not really. So you get this feature created if that happens. So going through every module and not just fixing it up but creating an infrastructure that does it automatically and it's amazing. A more left field thing thrown from them is they wanted a firewall because they knew you'd have people coming in from windows and that's the expectation. It should be a firewall. It should be a way to configure it. And they funded that, they shipped that. And one thing that we've seen is VALF would suggest something and I'd be skeptical but I'm a good contractor so I don't know. And then the social media would come up and everyone would, when you do a release note to Plasma, people would say, oh, that's a really good idea. I'm really good at that. So you do tend to have that finger on the pulse of what's actually needed. And we also added this landing page, system settings. You want to find one of the few things that are going to change a lot, like theme, dark theme, that sort of thing. So on the front page, click it, move on. Another massive topic, power profiles. Steam decks on battery life, but also laptops on battery. These sort of things matter and there's a lot of advances happening in the kernel space and we weren't really utilising a desktop space and some work was happening in this free desktop world but it wasn't really ready for production, it wasn't really ready for us to use for our needs and we still needed to integrate into the EU. So we've added support for power profile switching. If your kernel supports it, you'll see it in the battery monitor. You can say you want performance profile or battery saving, which I hope my Steam decks on right now. So I don't lose halfway through your size and we did a lot of work upstream in all of that as well. Another big aspect with power and resource management is putting all the applications into different C-groups which again I talked about at a previous academy but now we know it is well funded. I'm making out applications, foreground applications run a bit faster. But it wasn't just in Plasma. There's a few cases where generally the community does a great job of all the applications and there's some applications which are essential and some which are more fringe use cases. And we had the job of going over a couple of these core applications and just giving them a quick cleanup. Gwynview was amazing over time. I think there had been a drop in commit and new behavioural changes had come in as standards. So it just needed that little bit of cleanup and that's what we've discussed of. Let's give it a shouldn't have used the word overhaul. We don't know who is just visual refresh of let's go a certain amount of time, how much we can polish and sort out. And another thing in related to Gwynview, if file management wasn't quite there with Keo, it blocks a lot, particularly if you put a slow SD card in. Maybe now, I think it might have been thinking about a steam deck when this request came in or if you put a slow SD card, it blocks a lot. Now it doesn't, now it's super fast. And then I want on review right now, spectacle is a good application, functionality will work, but we can make it a bit more streamlined. Expectation has changed. What we've seen in other desktops have become this more integrated smooth process. It's about out of workflow. And we're like, well, we should have that. We can make sure our apps are up to date. And that's on review right now. So check it out. And hopefully we'll see outlanding. But Valhav weren't just thinking about end user-only device. They're also thinking about developer experience because if you're trying to profile your game on a steam deck, you're going to be logging in. You're going to be running console. They probably know all of the commands. They're not in the same cases Thomas was talking about earlier, but it's still, it's reflowing and most lineship alternatives is just enough off that if you're not used to your Linux world, which some of these developers are not. It's some stuff that could be polished up. So they funded some console work. And what I think they were focusing on was the things that bothered them because they could relate to that. And what have we done in Plasma? We continued all our startup improvements. Startup is much, much faster than it was years ago. Is that system D managed boots which has helped make things so much more robust, particularly with other upstream changes that happened because robustness is something I really care about. And microphone volume indicated. It's a very small thing compared to all of these other bullet points that are worthy of our own talks. But the back door of how this came about is good. We were in a meeting and somebody who will remain nameless didn't have a microphone set up properly and it was embarrassing. But it was a realisation of it's not your fault, whoever it may be. Let's fix this, let's put it in some time and fix a sort of tiny paper cut. So that was something that came up from there. And we funded some of your work on QFuse when we thought it was going to stall. We took on that G-Soc guy and let him finish off. So I mentioned the only way to install applications is flat packs. And flat packs is great but it's slightly more than just packaging your app. Packaging your app gets it on the store but there are some nuances that don't quite work exactly the same as a native application. And they need to be taken care of. And it's not just the inside application where things are missing out of a fundamental layer as well. So we sorted out the portal support for drag and drop outside a file system. So a flat pack might have a different knowledge of a file system compared to your space outside a flat pack. So if you pass in a path that doesn't necessarily match up. So we hooked all of that up with some portal magic. I think we were some of the first to actually make out work everywhere. And we had a KD API for process spoiling outside the sandbox because flat pack hide views have been. So if you are Cate and you have plugins and try and execute a Git command it does nothing. And that was something I cared about. If we're in a position where a Cate developer says we're not comfortable with our product on a flat pack because it makes our product look bad that's a problem it needs fixing. And we need to take a step back and not just say, oh Cate it's your problem. We need to look at underlying problems and fix all of that. And we did. And well, hopefully. If people do have issues please do let us know. So we had a KD API and K-core add-ons and we did a work porting Cate to that. We didn't want to push anyone. We sort of said we've done your work if you're comfortable with this being on the store. Let's put it on the store. And elsewhere moving forwards now. And that's going to be good because it's something I miss on the deck. You want that good text editor even if you are using a virtual keyboard. And the portal is a moving target. The way a flat pack works is it's a packaging level system but it's also a firewall protection system. It's trying to lock down and sandbox your application. And the more you sandbox the more you need to poke holes in that sandbox to make things continue to work. And that's the way a portal comes in and that's just constantly iterating target. Silence befells a room, silence befells my entire slides while I have a drink. So there's a lot to do away then. And so much so I know we have two talks tomorrow. I'm not going to drill down on into what we've been doing but let me just say it's a big topic. And the issues go beyond KD. It's not a case of... Issues go beyond KD. It's not just a case of us fixing a few things. It's... What's going on here? Okay. It's not just a case of us fixing... It's just infrastructure throughout this stack. It's all of the clients and there's protocol missing. And I mean, Wayland works really well if you have a very simple app. It is a window. It's all isolated, self-contained and behaves the way a simple app works. But as soon as you have a virtual keyboard or a driver trying to replay events or absolute positioning like a friend overlay where all your... See all your contacts that Valve has or if you want to stream all your media to another device which is a feature Valve has. And there's so many cases where Valve's own software wasn't really working with Wayland. So they know X isn't the future. But Wayland still has gaps at midfilling. And it's a massive long-term effort. And they've been funding that. But it also means they're interested in KDE for your long haul as well because they know it's a big project. And we've done even more behind-the-scenes that I didn't bother writing into bullet points because there's so many lots of little tiny things everywhere. So some closing thoughts wrapping it up. A big topic. Why did Valve choose KDE? And how am I going to think about that? And I'll tell you my opinion, which is right because I've got a microphone. They chose it because they use it themselves and they like it. It's a very simple concept. They use it and they like it. But there's also so much to read into that. You're not targeting some hypothetical user. And I think that's something it's easy to get into my insight of oh, what if a user does this? What if a user does that? And I think it's very clear from all your conversations they focus on what they like. And they took out a story of, well, my opinion probably reflects a lot of people. I'm not that weird. And they focus on that. And it's also quite interesting that Valve didn't say, see this product and go, what can we shape it into? They were like, we're happy with this. This is what we want. And I think there's also a tendency to look at some other products that are happening in going, oh, we need to pivot into this space. We need to pivot into that space. And sometimes we need to look inside and go, actually, what's working well? And in many ways, Plasma right now and the KDE staff and all the applications is actually working well. And we should lean into that. So it's an exciting time. I think it's safe to say it's as Plasma's biggest adoption onto mainstream hardware as ships out the box. I mean, I know it's had other products in the past. I like most about this is a lot of the times we see people using Linux because they're targeting for cheap. And when they use Linux because they're targeting for cheap, that shows in all of aspects of what goes to market. But that's not a taste of Valve. They're not using Plasma because it's cheap. They're using it because they can control the store. And therefore, we're happy to put it on a high-end device. We're using it because they like it. So, this is Valve. I'm not sure if you'd asked me a couple of years ago would I be on stage talking about Valve funding a device running Plasma as being shipped to a loss of people. I wouldn't. I'd laugh at you. And I would have been wrong. So who's next? Is it going to be Dell? Is it going to be HP? Ali said you're not going to see Plasma on helicopters.  And I'm going to look really cool. Is there going to be something else on you? Like a car, mental. So, we'll see. And if we can prove ourselves in the marketplace with one big vendor, hopefully others will notice. And where we're at now with Plasma on a deck isn't where Plasma's going to continue being on a deck. We're continuing to iterate on it. The community's continuing to iterate on Plasma upstream. We're changing this. We're going to make some awesome software that's being exposed to lots of awesome people. And next year, maybe we'll be in a position to stand on a hill with a flag that's been successful. Once a rat, maybe. So, any questions? Also, how long have I got up? We have about 10 minutes left. Oh, perfect. So, I'll be doing questions from the audience and online as well. I'll start with the online ones and then I'll go back and forth. So, the first one from Nicholas. Who do I need to bribe or convince to pre-install KD Connect on the Steam Deck? We'll see what happens. In terms of default packages, that's something outside our control. It's something because we can make recommendations, we've got a good partnership. We'll see what happens. I would also suggest you check out the beta options in the Steam Deck and see what you see in main instead of release. You said that the Steam Deck has been sold to, or sold or distributed to many, many people. Do we know how many? I do. I don't know if it's public. Can you ask if they can tell us? Oh, I do know. Okay. Okay, good. Okay, I can tell you that. They have crossed over a million and they're still processing the backorders. And once they're done with the backorders, we're not still going on. So, once they've processed the backorders, then they expect another surge of sales because then it's going to be available in store. And that's going to be a huge boost. We're also seeing a dock, which is not this one, a dock being announced, oh, screen flicker for this. It also announced a dock, sorry. It also announced a dock that's coming soon, and I think it's really going to boost the plasma on the deck usage because then it's a bit easier to plug it into a mouse keyboard. We don't need a mouse. We don't need a keyboard and monitor and Valve are using unofficial docs, so it works a little bit better. Next question comes from Andreas. Valve seems somewhat slow with updating plasma on the deck, even in the beta channels. Do you have any insight in the reasons for that? Say it again, sorry. The plasma is old on the Steam Deck when update. What happened? It's not, so when they have the operating system and talk about how it's immutable, they've got big updates that they take atomically. And that's a big process. After our first deck, our first shipment, they were like, we've got this, let's play safe. And then let's work where we're going afterwards. So I think it's just playing safe for now. We will see updates. We will see updates where it is stacked. The deck itself works well for games, and it works well if you connect it to a TV and a keyboard and a mouse. But if you try to use it as a desktop version, on the deck itself, it's raised up. It doesn't really work very well because the mouse is only on the right side, because I'm left-handed. OK, so I can do a live demo.  But if you go to Steam settings, you'll see how much control you've got because one thing Valve do is settings. So on this window here, which... I'll ask you what someone's saying about your mouse. If we can find... Oh, OK. There is a setting. I will show you and you can configure every aspect of it. You can either switch it to touch bad. You can change the sensitivity. It's got an intense amount of control. And that's all being done at a Valve layer. So you probably look at system settings. Arguably, that's not a streamline as it could be, but it's Valve providing that translation from all of these buttons to mouse keyboard events. And therefore, it's hooked into their UI. So once you find it, it's the same as you want to use to configure it on games. And it's very, very powerful. There's some community templates on there as well. OK, thanks. OK, another question from the online audience. How does one backup data from the Steam Deck did Valve ask for a nice backup and restore UI on their device? There's not something they've asked for. But you have a fire manager. So I think that's as much a case of you can use a deck in desktop mode as a way to do something. You might need to find that wiki page on GitHub where someone says, these are where all your files are. And you can also use other apps on top. There are existing backup restore applications. Grab one from Flatpak. It will probably work because you get your director synced up. So I think it's an interesting question. It could be an interesting avenue. I talked about how plasmas and what we're doing is not fixed. We're going to continue iterating over time. So who knows what your future brings. I've been helicopterist. Valve used the desktop edition. There was an option to use plasma mobile edition for the UI. Which would be a better option but there would be something needed extra on top. So was there any talk about this where there was a choice? So we certainly made them aware of what we had in Plasmas Mobile because we were at Plasmas Mobile. I knew some of the people were aware when it kicked off a lot of the Plasmas Mobile stuff. So we were aware, we certainly saw things of suggestion. But I think it's also, it's not a mobile device because, I mean we've run it locally but I find a touchpad very difficult to use because unless you have very long fingers, it's unique. So I think it was very important to them to sell it and market it as a desktop mode because if you want that full-window experience, that's what your mode day provides for. So I think it's about reducing that overlap and provide something new which is why it didn't go through that. But there are plasma mobile applications that all translate. So we've got to discover out your box. It's a relatively small screen. Your convergence is convergence. It doesn't matter if it's a small screen, a big screen or somewhere slightly in the middle, it's sort of just works. And we are seeing that work from Plasmas Mobile really come into play there. So I think there's a lot of scope for applications to shine there and be something up their queue to say, oh, install this app, happen to come from Plasmas Mobile to their Mrs standalone app, doesn't really matter and have that available. What were the motivations for Valve using its own immutability solution? I don't know outside of a stack because, I mean, we focus on Plasmas Mobile because that's our level. I think you're right that other things exist now. It's a whole structure similar issue for door of silver, blue, that sort of thing. But they also need to retain, it would have started this years ago, what existed at the time when they did it, that's up to them. So I'm afraid I can't answer. Can you go back to the slide with the deck? I'll close Libraffis, but yeah, sure.  I don't really have any question. I just want to take the picture and I miss the chance. Oh, I see. Do you want me to stand? I'm going to stand under it. I mean, you could also look at, take a photo of this and just zoom in a bit closer. I mean, I have to say, not my... So not even that long ago, KDE still had the reputation of being a heavyweight resource hog. And I mean, it has gone down with Plasma 5, but has the fact that we are running Plasma 5 on a device that has to be extremely efficient, improved that, has there been like specific feedback coming that, oh, wow, this is now actually fast? So I don't think... Well, there's a few things to drill into there. Firstly, this is as powerful as my laptop, certainly in terms of how quickly it can compile when. It's actually a bit smaller, but it lasts quite a long time. And I don't think we've hit... We certainly haven't hit any issues and we've never been that worried about any issues. But as to whether your perception has changed, I don't know, I don't think... It's not something I saw a lot of concern about because they're marketing it as a desktop, you can use it at the PC. I don't think people are worried about thinking of it as an embedded device. But hopefully we've improved, we've fixed a couple of people's minds on the internet. That's all the time we had for questions. Thank you very much, David.


MLB the show's coverage of Major League Baseball is on the air. Coming up, we've got a good match up in store between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. It's Yankees' baseball, and it comes your way next. James Paxton, the left-handed Canadian, gets the starting assignment here. Then, please act. What's the word on him? Hey, you can tell by this strikeout-to-walk ratio, two-to-one, that this guy is more a pitch-to-contact guy than a strikeout-walk guy. Standing in, Kevin Kiermeier. He will lead this one off today. Leading off the afternoon for Tampa Bay, the center fielder, Kevin Kiermeier. Ready to deliver, here's the first pitch. First pitch, 107. Into the wind-up, here comes the 0-1. A swinging strike, and now it's 0-2. Into the wind-up, here comes the 0-2 pitch. This one's outside, quite a bit off the plate that time. He's up in the zone a lot right now. Sometimes that can be effective, but I think you have to be careful with that, especially during a day game, where the ball tends to carry a lot more. Had to sit back on the change-up, and he did a good job to get the bat on that one. Great job by the pitcher right there to put him in the proverbial rocking chair. Slowed him down, sped him up, slowed him down. Let's see where he's going now. Now a fast ball, but that's easy to lay off, and it's back to even at 2-2. Still hanging with him, another good swing to keep it going. Here's another 2-2. Gotta love the battle we're seeing right out of the gates in this game. That's seven pitches now, and if this is any indication, we're in for a good contest here. A bouncer up the middle. Torres brings it in, and he's retired one away. And they mark people. So striding in, Jose Martinez, five base hits in the series for him through nine at bats, so he's been very productive at the plate. Drops in a strike to start the at bat, nothing in one. Well, this Yankee ball club entering play this afternoon here. They're on a great run of late as they come in winners of seven of their last nine games. Yeah, Maddie, this team finds itself with a huge lead, double digits right now, and climbing, playing really good baseball. Some people will say, oh, you don't want to have that big a lead. You start resting on your laurels. I look at it the other way, man. You've earned the right to kind of get some guys off their feet if the manager wants. There's a lot of different ways you can go about it. This team's focused in playing really good baseball. I would not worry about it. Keep pushing the throttle.  Good job to work to count and put himself back in the driver's seat. Started off with one strike, and now he's got to count his favorite three and one. Full count, three balls and two strikes to the raised D.H. Faces your empty one man out. He takes strike three called on the fast ball, couldn't pull the trigger in their are two away. Into the box now, Austin Meadows, one of the better hitters in the league this year, currently seventh in the American League in hitting. What a terrific season this guy's having up near the leaders in batting average without a doubt the highest average and the best hitter on this team. He's ready. Here's the first offering. Hey, they say solos won't kill us, but I got to believe this guy's looking to do exactly that. The 1-0. Pretty easy takes to start out this at bat. None of those pitches were even close to the strike zone. Faces are empty here with two men out and a good comeback fastball there.  That's not a pitch he misses very often. He knows he should have done something with that one. To two and two now. This pitchers feeling the flow right now. Two outs in the first inning. He's got really nice mechanics working right now, blew that fastball right by it. Here's a fly ball, well hit. Judge retreats to the track and he'll put this one away. So a sigh of relief as the side is retired. One more look at the final out. A teeth rattle or if ever there was one. Bottom of the first straight ahead, we are scoreless on the show. Charlie Morton, a right-hander from the garden state of New Jersey gets the ball here. What do you have for us on him, Denny? Hey, this guy's had a solid year up to this point. It's not an easy thing to do in baseball this year with all the high scoring games, but this guy has an ERA of sub three and that's saying something. If he continues to do that, I think you're gonna see a really good performance out of him in this one. Stepping into the box with Gardner and there's a look at his home and road splits so far this year. First pitch of the at-bat. This one to right field and deep off the bat of Gardner. So it's a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the first. 12 home runs for him now thus far as the Yankees will grab a one to nothing lead. Yeah, we always talk about how important it is to spot your starter or run it to early in the game and he does just that. Blasting a no doubt bomb that serves notice, they're going to be swinging with the wood here. No better way to get the home crowd into it right out of the gates.   Yeah, Maddie, they cannot allow that one run to deflate them. I know they haven't been playing well recently, but that's nothing in today's game. The way guys are hitting home runs at an epic rate, they just need to calm down and get on the offensive side of the ball. Windup and the O2 pitch. Bases are empty here, nobody out. They'll stand alive, putting together a really good at bat here. And it's a ball and two strikes now to Aaron Judge. They'll try to get him fishing there, but he won't offer in the dirt and it's back to even at two and two. Now here it comes. And this is swung on and missed and the American League's leading hitter has gone on strikes one away. Oh man, he's been absolutely getting overmatched at the plate the last couple of games. That's his fifth strikeout in this series alone. So clearly this pitching staff, they figured out how to attack this guy. We'll see if he can make any adjustments. Giancarlo Stanton now. He'll take a look at ball one. Swing and a shot hit down the corner. Definitely had the distance, but it winds up a foul ball from the windup, the 1-1 pitch. And he misses two and one. I don't blame him for not coming over the heart of the plate. He circled this guy on the lineup card when he got to the yard today. He's been swinging one of the hotter bats in the game. One out, nobody on. 2-2 is swung on and missed strike three. This tells me a lot about this guy. He's done a real nice job bouncing back from that home run to strike out the next two guys. Sometimes you're going to get taken deep, but it's all about how you respond that really matters. So now to the plate, Gary Sanchez, as he takes a fastball off the plate for a ball one and all. Weighing inside with that one, a pretty easy take there. Looks like that bomb earlier in the inning kind of put this pitcher on the defensive. That being very aggressive right now. 2-0 pitch and that one's over for a strike. That's evidence of a pitcher and catcher being totally in sync out there. That tells me they both know that's a good pitch for him right now. It's fouled away. Two out, nobody on. And he holds off on the breaking ball so the count runs full. If you're at the plate right now, you have to realize who's on deck. I guarantee you something's over the heart of the plate. You have to be aggressive in the zone right here. And whoa, awfully close, but it's ball four according to Woody Keller. And I'm sure the manager is just fine with that. I mean, it's better to battle a slugger like that to the end and end up walking him than serving on up or he can really hurt you. And that'll bring up Gleber Torres. In prior outings against Charlie Morton, he's four for 14. First offering on its way. Torres is really a well-balanced hitter. That doesn't seem to matter whether he's facing right-hander or lefty. He makes a lot of loud contact either way, which is quite rare in today's game. Yeah, you can tell this guy really pays attention, puts time in the cage, studies the video, seems to always have a game plan and is not off balance too much. Sanchez is off a first with two away. Fastball misses in the dirt as he tried to get him to chase the low one. Hey, I get it. He wants to set up that breaking ball down it away, but that 0-2 fastball wasn't even close. The 1-2. And here's a ball lifted back toward the stands in right. So we'll try it again at 1 and 2. As a look, now the pitch. Got to take advantage of that pitch right there. 0-2 breaker hanging over the heart of the plate. Not going to see too many of those today. The 1-2. I love these Grindriff bats right here. Kind of a lot Wade Boggs in the early 80s, where he would just foul off strikes that he didn't want to hit and wait for that pitch he was certainly sitting on and drive it off the monster. 2-2 is looked at and the count moves full. Good running count right here. Three balls, two strikes, two outs, run run first. He'll be off to the races on this pitch. On the eighth pitch of the at bat is the one that finally does it as he wears him down and the inning is over. Yankees are off and running early thanks to the solo home run. We'll head to the top of the second. Now one-nothing Yanks. Now Hunter Renfro, in yesterday's game, he was responsible for the only run driven in by his club. The over shift here, now the pitch fouled away. He fouls this one off. Freezes him as he becomes out number one. Not a lot of guys throw that knuckle curve but some guys have a lot of success with it. Some say it has more bite than the traditional curveball but I think it's more of a field thing. It just works for certain pitchers and it worked right there.  And he's a guy looking to break out in a big way. Hasn't been getting the results he or his club have been hoping for. Into the wind up, here comes the 0 and 1. Here's his strike with the breaking ball. Sort of surprising to see a five hole hitter take two in a row for strikes to start at bat. Now he's way behind the count so we'll see if he can battle back. Filthy change up that time but he's able to make contact and he'll get another chance. Next 0-2, ball swung on and missed as he just reared back there two away. Hate to be captain obvious here but he looks great to begin the start. That's already three Ks for him and the first five hitters. It'd be awesome to see him keep up this pace. Brendan Lau, first two men in the inning have both gone down via the punch out so we'll see if he can fare any better. Now here it comes. Well located fastball right there if he can continue to do that he'll pitch deep into this one. Big swing and a miss at the fastball and he's behind in the count 0-2. Lau, a 25 year old, he was selected in the third round back in the 2015 MLB draft. Yeah, Maddie, they certainly got it right when they drafted this guy. He has turned himself into an absolute superstar. Everybody knows this guy's name and kids are buying his jerseys. Yankees lead this one to nothing here in inning number two. He strikes out this side in order. Three up, three down, three strikeouts. Not too shabby. More to come on the show Sunday baseball after this. Blake, Mike Tokman. They all for him yesterday but back out there for this one. First pitch coming, here it is. And he'll try to crowd him there to start the at bat, it's 1-0. As a veteran out on the mound that's a pitch that you expect to get a call on. Gotta believe he keeps pounding that spot until he builds a rapport with the umpire. Now the 1-0. No, that's the ball. He walked a guy back in the first and now he's looking like he might hand out another free pass to the leadoff guy here. You can't be walking a guy in inning and think you're gonna have any success. Three-one is a fastball and he can't connect three and two. He was able to sneak that fastball by him on three and one so now we've got a battle on our hands. Three, two pitch, fouled off. Try it again, three and two. And he takes ball four. Leadoff man's aboard here to begin the home half of the second. That leadoff walk is a great way to start this inning when you're looking to pad the lead. Could be the beginning of good things here in this half inning. That'll bring in Giovanni Urschella. First at bat for him as he enters play third in the American League batting race. Guy continues to swing a hot bat. Hit over 300 last month. We'll see if he can keep scorching here in this one. First pitch of the at bat on its way. And a fastball is in there for strike one. Pitch on its way. Tuckman aboard here at first with nobody out. And a check swing. Did he go around? No, says the first base umpire. It's ball one. Two balls and two strikes now. So you'd love for him to offer at that one but the execution was flawless. Nice curveball that starts in the zone and breaks just out. Just a great take by the batter. Slowly hit to first. I don't think they can get two. To second for one but no real shot at two as he saved easily at first. So that one wasn't quite hit sharply enough to turn two. Yeah, choppers like that make it really tough. You can't make the ball get to you much faster. So the key is making sure you feel that cleanly and at least get one which they did there. Coming to the plate now. Luke Voight in prior outings against Charlie Morton. He's just one for six. Ready with the first pitch here it comes. Starts him out with a cutter and he gets him to swing through at one strike looking at his career totals. Voight carries a batting line little over the 260 mark. Here's a breaking ball but it doesn't quite find the strike zone. Hey they tried to tie him up on that last pitch so I like that they went away with this one. The execution didn't work but I like the idea behind it. It's fouled away. Runner's on first with one down. Tough curveball that time but he's able to make a little contact to keep this at bat going. Looked like the fastball got away from him there. That's a good take on a fastball out of the zone. Hey I get it he's looking for a ball to drive but that ball was a little bit too far up in the zone. That's one you normally pop right up. Oh and this is swung on and missed four strikeouts already and that's out number two. Well his struggles continue. It's been a rough goal that at the plate with him and watching this at bat. It's clear to me that his rhythm and timing they're just all up. Even as a pitcher like I was you can tell these things and exploit them. And that'll bring up Tyler Wade as he'll take strike one on the inside corner. He takes his first cuts in this one with the man at first and two away. Set here's the 0-1. A swing and a ground ball to third. Throw to second for the foreshad and the side is retired. One left for the Yankees. We play two innings. It's one to nothing. G-man Choi the next to hit. He starts off the inning against a guy who struck out the side last inning. How do they get to him here. I'm not sure Matt that they want to stay as patient. He's been throwing a lot of strikes. They might want to start swinging a little bit earlier in the count. First pitch of the at bat on its way. Didn't quite catch the zone there. Ball one is taken for ball two and it's three and oh. Just a little bit off to start the third now. That's three straight balls and a good comeback there. It's three and one. One of the best ways to keep a guy uncomfortable is to pound him inside. They're doing that and this one caught the zone and he lays off their ball four. So the leadoff man is on here to begin inning number three. They haven't been able to register a hit against this guy. But at least they have a base runner here. We'll see if that leads to something. Now Willie Adams the head to head with James Paxton. He's one for five. Here's the first pitch to him. Swing and misses.  Nobody outrunner on first one as he lays off below the zone. Here's the one one pulled in with that one as he's way out in front. And that misses two and two. Now here's one hit in the air to the right side and the rays are in the hit column and that runner will go no further than second as there are two aboard now. The kept man he's seeing it like a beach ball right now. Even his soft contact is finding holes there. He's making it nearly impossible for a pitcher right now up down in and out of hard soft. Anything you throw forward to home plate this guy seems to somehow be able to find a hole. Mike Zanino is next as he finds himself behind 0 and 1. And you see that average below the dreaded Mendoza line on its way now to Zanino. Challenge pitch coming up here. He probably doesn't want to flirt with loading the bases. Off the change up and he's ahead in the count now three and one. You fight so hard to get into these type of counts. You can't let this pitch get away from you. You have to keyhole something middle of the plate. Full count now three and two. Hard hit ball to second one there. Devoid in time for the double play. Made him throw a lot of pitches and that at that. But he'll take the double play as a trade off for sure. Here's Kevin Kiermeier as he's got a chance to tie this ball game up with that equalizing run just 90 feet away at third. First pitch on its way. Now a ball lined to the left side foul one offering in there and it's oh to now. This is a perfect time for him to break out that nasty change of great arm action on it and bury something in the dirt trying to get a swing and a miss. And it's a ball and two strikes to Kiermeier now fouls this one off and to here it is now a swing and a ball popped in the air back behind short. Torres is there and he puts this one away for the third out so a great job there of working out a potential trouble. One left for Tampa. It remains one nothing. And we're back for the bottom of the third. Let's check in with Heidi Watney. Thanks Matt. I talked with Yankees manager Aaron Boone during the break about the team's offensive performance so far and flat out he was very pleased with the quality of their at bats. Yes they've only scored one run but he said they've done a great job of forcing the pitch count up and he thinks that's going to lead to more offense for them as this game goes on. Good stuff Heidi. Thanks. Ready to go for the last half of the inning and that'll bring forth the veteran outfielder. Brett Gardner that last half he turned around a pretty good fastball so I'm kind of thinking this guy's a good fastball hitter so I might want to move that ball up and down and in and out and try not to throw it right down the middle of the plate. Started to go around but it's ruled strike one anyway. Gardner the native of South Carolina. He's a veteran of 13 years at the Major League level which really points to the consistency he's shown since he first broke in. Yeah Matty this guy has had an amazing career and you know what it's a testament to how hard he's worked the changes he's had to make this is a game of adjustments and you don't hang around this long if you're not prepared to make some adjustments along the way.  He and two to the Yankees center fielder. Three and two pitch is a swing and a miss that strike three. Yeah as they say there's a hole in his swing in that location so a good job there of exploiting that. That can be real hard for some guys to overcome when teams start figuring out what locations you just can't handle. And that'll bring up Aaron Judge as he'll lay off a curveball in the dirt for ball one over one here in the early going bouncer to the left side a diving effort here as he gets a glove on it for a will not be in time at first a good effort that time but not enough to prevent them from getting a one out base run. Nice effort by the shortstop right there kept it in front of him that's that's all he could do right there Dan deal on a spot like that. That's an infield single. That's a tough play just to knock that ball down was a pretty good job but any way you look at it that should be scored a base hit and I'm sure it was. Thing in one count. Here it comes. No he's looked at for strike two. It pretty aggressive pitch right there up in the zone. Surprised he didn't offer at it. Three balls and two strikes to the Yankees DH. I wouldn't be surprised to see the runner moving here on that three to pitch with only one out but this guy at the plate swings the bat really well so it's likely he'll put the ball in play if it's a pitch worth swinging at. Ready to deliver the full count pitch fouled off three to one more time. Fastball strike three called as he couldn't pull the trigger and there are two away. So we're going to hit first here with two gun in the inning and that'll bring up Gary Sanchez. He set and the pitch. Pulled the fastball down a little too much there. That's ball one. We're only in the third inning and his pitch count is above 60. That's not being too efficient with your pitches. The 1 0. Judge the runner at first with two gun. Breaking ball called just a bit low. The fastball inside so he's in the driver's seat three and one. Pretty good pitch right there. Fastball in off the plate. One of the things you want to do as a pitcher try to stand those hitters up.  Good spot for an RBI. Put the ball in play with the runner in motion. He could score all the way from first. And another foul ball. Back up the middle and that's through for a hit. There's a hard hit brown ball. Pitcher not able to get a glove on it. Hard single up the middle. Watch your lips right there. Dad sent it back right where it came from. Standing in now. Torres as the first pitch misses to him. It's ball one. Two on two out for him here in the third. Ready with the 1 0. Got to find a way to execute either a good fastball down and away or flip something off speed for a strike. You cannot miss over the harder plate in these situations. The hitter is on high alert. The 2 1 0. Most good pitchers know that they have to work inside and sometimes even come off the plate to keep hitters from getting comfortable up there. I think that was part of the intent with that last pitch. 3 0 pitch. Hit hard on the ground a second. He's got it. And the two out threat will not come to pass as the inning is over. Yanks strand a pair but they're on top one to nothing. New winning shot to get underway and standing in is the D.H. Jose Martinez. First pitch of the at bat on its way. And boy a high strike called there. That's not all that consistent but it's strike one. One of the biggest factors on how long you're going to go with a start is how many first pitch strikes you throw. 80% usually means you're going to have a pretty good day and that's on the menu so far. A ball and two strikes now in the knuckle curve that time got him swinging and that's the first out. Opportunity now to take a look at some of the future players in the Yankee organization as our road to the show report spotlights a couple of guys that have been playing well in recent action. Now Austin Meadows. He swings and hits it foul off to the right and out of play. Fly down in his first at bat so make him 0 for 1 so far. Here's the pitch and this pitch is looked at for a ball and that leave in the count of the raise right fielder at one and one. No runs just one hit and no errors for Tampa Bay so far. Can't keep the weight back and he falls behind one and two. Cut fastball there and he got him to swing through it for the second out. No better way to minimize the potential damage a cleanup hitter can do than to strike out both guys in front of him. Always a confidence boost when you can sit down with the guys at the top of the lineup. Plate now Hunter Renfro as the first pitchers have been high it's ball one two balls and no strikes to the raise left fielder. And there's the first strike two and one. That's a pitch he'd like to have back. You're not going to see very many pitches like that from a pitcher of this quality. I'm sure he'd like to have that one back to take a swing at it. Now the two one pitch. He's swung on and missed for strike number two and he misses with that one down and in. It's a full count now three and two into the wind up ready with the payoff pitch and well awfully close. But it's ball four according to Woody Keller. And you can tell by his body language that he's beyond frustrated by that call. He's got to be wondering what he's got to do. But the last thing he needs to do is to let it get under his skin. That will only make things worse into the box. Andy Diaz comes into this at bat 0 for 1 in the ball game. First delivery to him on the way. Hey I know the tying runs at first right here. But if the pitcher on the mound executes keeps the ball in play I think good things are going to happen. Renfro leads off first with a pair of outs in the inning in the dirt here. And that'll hurt as the runner will move into scoring position now. Well the graphic here isn't going to properly show just how far that pitch was from the strike zone. That thing wasn't even close. And I think it made the decision to move up a base. Pretty easy to make. Little jumpy there as he swings through the fastball. A high fly ball headed for the left field corner. If it stays fair it's gone. But it bends just fouled into the second deck. One and two here it is. At opposite field as he lines this down the line and right. And this will find the wall deep in the corner. The tag and he's outgoing for a second. That'll end the inning but they do score one on the play. Razel settle for just the one. On now to the bottom half of any number four. All tied at one and one. Plate now Mike Tuckman. He'll swing and lift the ball fouled off to the left and out of play. He'll enter play here with an average just over 250. Four home runs and 14 driven in. It's fouled away. Got to bounce a curveball on 0 and 2 but he holds back. It's one and two now. Hey the fish ain't biting there on that 0-2 breaking ball but you got to be careful because this pitcher might throw him another one. Here's the one and two delivery. He might have to look for a different way to put this guy away on 2-2. He's already seen the curveball a couple of times so he might be looking for it. The pitch. I got him swinging on the split fingered pitch and that's out number one. Digging in to try it again. Giorg Shella to the first pitch to him. Strike taken as that one crosses over the inside part of the plate. One run on three hits and no errors for the Yankees so far. Hard hit ball to second and this will get through in the right and he's aboard with a single. Nothing fires me up more than watching an offensive player stay inside a baseball and drive it the other way. The first pitch to him runs a bit inside for ball one 0 for one for him here in this one. 2 and 0. You never want to fall behind as a pitcher but doing it to a guy like this is even worse. He's got to bear down and execute for the rest of this at bat starting right now. The 2 and 0 pitch on first here with one gone in a 1 1 tie lays off the split finger that time with one team's been struggling on offense. Let your D work for you right here pound his own. He loses him on ball four. Second baseman. Stepping in Tyler Wayne is 0 for one thus far with the first pitch here it comes. This is the left handed hitter that can fly down the line if they want to turn to they're going to have to be almost perfect. He can strike one way 25 year old. He was a fourth round selection back in the draft of 2013. Hey this middle round selection is still developing but he's doing it at the big league level and he has a lot of time to get his tool set. He's got to hurry the second for one the veteran Brett Gardner. He went down on strikes last time up. There's a fastball on the inner third taken for a strike. It's not always about filling up the strike zone all the time every inning. He's pitching well as we're moving into the middle innings but interestingly less than 50 percent of his first pitches and then for strikes the 1 1 runners at the corners two men out. Neither guy willing to give in and the at battle continue time toward the alley and left center and this is going to get down for extra bases as that'll get one if not both of them home. The lead rounds the corner and is headed home. He scores as they extend the lead a bit. It's now a three to one game. With that base hit right there D-roll that's his third RBI of the game. More importantly his team's now ahead. Yeah these are the special ones. He's had a great approach all day. He's battled his tail off and he's given his team single-handedly almost given his team a chance to win this one. Here's big Aaron judge. The line to the left side but foul Gardner at second with two down outside for a ball one and one. These guys hitting aren't in first place by accident. They excel at getting out to early lead so this is a big moment in this game. If they're able to lengthen this lead any more in this inning they're going to be in really good shape to come away with a win today. One one gets a swinging strike. The one two. Slap hard the opposite way. Oh and it eats him up a bit. Lung scores from second and it's a four to one game so he's able to come through here with two away and that's a good time to check out our RBI leaders on the league leader board. And as you see he's right up there among league leaders in that department. And digging into the batter's box next will be Giancarlo Stanton. One and oh the count. Move over to first and he has to dive but he's back in easily. Three runs already home here. Two balls and no strikes the count is Stanton. A couple of strikeouts early in the game but he's done a much better job in this at bat trying to get ahead and put himself in a good hitters count. Now the two oh. You look in the dugout you can tell that manager is getting ready to come out on that top step. If he doesn't get out of this situation right here and it's a tough one. I think the bullpen comes in. The pitch is laid off. But in there for strike one. Got to believe he had the green light in that situation. Two outs three oh count. This guy can certainly handle the bat. That's a perfect situation to let him lose. But I love the fact that he's key holding a certain area and it wasn't what he was looking for. On first with two away fouled away. Good at bat that time as he lays off for ball four and as a result that'll move a runner up into scoring position now with two away. And I think this walk has been great at him for a bit. He just missed and now the inning continues with the man in scoring position. Brendan McCain answers the call from the pen here in the fourth as they didn't get the outing they were hoping for from their starter. Gary Sanchez will be his first assignment here as he'll face him with runners at first and second and two away from the stretch. Fastball just misses that's one and this is pulled fouled as he was way out in front there. Two down runners at first and second fouls this one off the one to swung on and missed he got him on strikes. So three runs on three hits no errors and two left. We played four full the Yankees lead it four to one. Welcome back Heidi Watney standing by as we get set for the top of the fifth. Race manager Kevin Cash talked to me in between innings about his lineups offensive production and flat out he told me they just need to put better swings on the ball right now. He said they're searching for ways to drive the ball with some authority because it's just not happening for them today. They haven't gotten an extra base hit yet. So it's been a real struggle getting guys into scoring position. But the key he said is not to panic. Sometimes you just have to fight through the downturns and keep your focus and energy high. Thank you Heidi. Pitch coming here it is breaking ball that time that misses out of the zone. Pitcher wants to have a quick inning right here capitalized on the momentum his batters have the 1 0 couple of righties starting to loosen now in the bullpen from the wind up the 1 1 pitch. He turns this one around high and deep to center field and it's gone. Although shot to right center number 10 for him on the year and the raise draw closer it's now a 4 2 ball game. Well if you're going to give up a towering blast one of the best players in their lineup it's better to do it with no one on base. It's staying sure but a solo shot isn't going to be the deciding factor in a game. So now to the plate. G-man showing and he'll take a called strike here on a borderline pitch it's strike one.  Here's a cutter that's off the plate one and one on that fastball is too much for him there one and two. He is in complete command out on the mound today. He's got all four corners locked in and now he's raised an eye levels to look like the fastball got away from him there it's ball to drive snagged on a short hop on the first so a good bounce back pitch there as he gets the ground ball for the first out. So stepping in Willie Thomas he's singled his last time up. He's ready. Here's the first offering in there strike one bases are empty one man out hit out towards second field it cleanly throw gets him to down now as Mike Zanino comes the first pitch to do it but I've got a question the pitch calling right there with the guy like this at the plate you got to attack him with their fastball instead of pitching him like he's a middle of the order power guy to an old count here it comes two balls and a strike it's not easy to get your barrel to a pitch that high that can be an effective location as long as he keeps it above the letters to two and two now hey I got to commend him a little bit lead off homer and now he's one pitch away from getting out of this inning without any further damage fouled off bases are empty here with two men out and he misses this one inside and that'll run things full three and two one of the things you want to do with a starter get that pitch count up here's another productive at bat is this count now gets to three balls and two strikes full count here here comes the pitch and he struck him out his seventh of the ballgame and that ends the inning A's answer right back on the solo home run bottom of the fifth coming up the Yankees for the raise to set now for the bottom of the fifth and stepping up as the shortstop tourists first pitch of the at bat on its way action in the raise pen now as they've got a lefty and a right hander up and throwing fouled away one ball and two strikes the count on two is a breaking ball that can't find the zone and it's even at two checks swing and he went around says the home ball is rolling but it's out number one ready once again Mike Talkman he looked to bounce back after striking out his last time ready to deliver here's the first pitch for two our score here as we play any number five one and two that was ugly Audi if you're waving at me to two balls and two strikes now and he takes three so it's a full count now while swung on and missed and for the second time today he's gone on strikes two up two down on strikes in this inning he looks really sharp out there guys standing in now Geo or Shella so watch one missed down and in for a ball one and oh he's working on a one for two games so far he's ready here's the one oh on that one two balls and a strike two out nobody on a little early and now it's even at two and two trying to strike out the side here it is and they're working the outer half here but that one's wide for ball three swing just a little early and he'll see another payoff pitch pops this one up Meadows coming in on it and nope this one falls so he'll get another shot keeps fighting him off the eighth pitch of the at bat coming up grounder hit hard down the first baseline but this will get foul so they'll do it again three and two and this one misses for ball four and the Yankees get a base runner here with two away standing in look boy and we'll see if they can make him pay for the two out walk always considered a big no no of course first pitch of the at bat and here's a fastball called for strike one that was a pretty good fastball after he walked out of the box there was a little angry on that heater and this one's in the dirt but it won't skip away far enough for the runner to advance Bershella is off a first with two away swing and a miss on the cut fastball in one and two I'll tell you if I'm pitching right now I'm not throwing anything near the strike zone until these guys prove they can lay off it they're just being way too aggressive so a full count now for the guy in the lead where nothing comes easy he's throwing a bunch of pitches and this A B hasn't been any different definitely laboring at the moment the three two pitch and he misses again ball four and that's back to back guys now that have reached base via the base on ball coming to the plate now Tyler Wayne he reached on a fielder's choice previously yeah I need to see some solid contact right here certainly don't get the confidence going he's been slumping pretty hard outside target here and he hits it for strike one two men are on with two men out off the plate one ball one strike I'll tell you it's a helpless feeling for a manager or a pitching coach when your pitchers are having a really hard time throwing strikes what are you supposed to do other than keep trying new guys until someone starts attacking his own high in the air in the shallow left center Adam is calls for it makes the catch and that'll retire the side a couple of walks but no damage we're back with more on a Sunday afternoon following this Tommy Kainley takes over to start the sixth inning on the mound half of the sixth about to get started and at the plate will be the speedy outfielder Kevin Keermeyer things not looking very good so far in this one but we're still in the middle innings they're down by a couple of times and this would be the right place in the right time to get something going the last thing they want to do is to try to come from behind and win this one in the eighth or ninth inning Tuckman has him played perfectly as he puts it away for outnumber one now that designated hitter Jose Martínez for the plate now for the raise is the DH Jose Martinez he's 0 for 2 in the ballgame so far set here it comes right hander against right hander as this is a ball one and all Kainley is one of those guys that just seems to be at his best under pressure runners in scoring position tight game tough hitters at the plate that's when he's at his best one of the keys Matty Vita being a good reliever is being able to pitch out of trouble trouble that's created by the pitchers before you or sometimes you even have some mess that you put on yourself hey regardless if it's a mess that he's inherited or one that he's created for himself this guy makes good pitches when the game's on the line and here's a ball out towards straight away center field Gardner is there to God so two outs now in the Tampa Bay 6 and Austin Meadows will be the next to bat he's ready here's the first offering hey a two on walk right here would be the time running the plate even though it's early on you got a guy on deck that has a lot of pop the 1 0 some action out in the bullpen couple of right handers starting to loosen up three and oh now I wouldn't be surprised if he had the green light here matter of fact I know he's got the green light here he's looking for something set or cut and he's looking to do down and that one's taken outside for a ball we walked him so no one two three ending here they've got themselves a two out base runner now well they were obviously pitching around him there and I don't know blame them with the bases empty and two outs and a hitter of this caliber at the plate makes somebody else beat you up next to the raise Hunter Renfro man at first after the two out walk on the stretch here's the pitch too much bite on the breaking ball that time is it's well off the outside good zip on that one as he just throws it by him for strike one one one home might have been taking all the way right there that pitch couldn't have split the strike zone any better and you can bet he wants that one back at the plate fouled away lucky he got a piece right there he was definitely laid on that pitch after seeing a previous off speed pitch another one to delivery just a bit high with the fastball but didn't get the call over to the bag and the runner back safely Meadows the runner at first with two gone hard hit toward the hole and that finds its way through for a base hit he looked a little bit out in front right there but he's able to pull that ground ball through the hole for a single young beyond the ads there's a high pop up Torres waits on it fair to say oh my goodness these folks are not headed for a career on Broadway more to come on the show Sunday baseball after this the back to the top of the Yankee order digging in gardener he'll try to follow up the double in his last act bad with another big hit right here ready to deliver here's the first pitch fastball off the plate away it's ball one good fastball as he gets the swing and a miss I think it's about time to choke up on that bat and get that foot down he's awfully tardy right now two balls in a strike down to the Yankees leadoff man fastball take in but that gets the zone for a strike two balls two strikes a crucial count for both pitcher and hitter so Dan what was your approach on the mound in that county is still pitch for the strikeout here action pitch right here to do the last thing you want to do is to fall behind the count three two fouls this one off this is swung on and missed his gardeners a strikeout victim one away well you got to love a live young arm he's got an electric fastball if he can learn to harness that and work in his solid secondary stuff he's going to have a really nice career on the mound not everyone is gifted with a fastball like that to the plate now Aaron judge as the first pitch to him's a change up that can't find the zone it's ball one he's two for three and looking for more here swing and a miss as he ramps up on the fastball one and one taken off the outside as the breaking ball couldn't catch the corner we're in the sixth inning now of a quarter two ball game two and two play this picture better be careful right here my man at the plate is not trying to push something to the opposite field he takes strike three called on the fastball couldn't pull the trigger in there are two away this has not been a weekend to remember for him he's just been completely lost at the plate flailing all over the place now that's his sixth strikeout of the series they really got him figured out the box Jean-Carlo Stanton yes he'll take a look at ball one 0 4 2 for him to this point but the tardy on that swing as it's well wide at first bases are empty here with two men out on the third baseline but a foul ball one and two now looking to set down the side on strikes here it comes and he struck out again that's the third time he's gone down on strikes in this one so the yanks go one two three but they still eat this one four to two Louis Sessa is on the pitch from the bullpen now to start any number seven and looking for more Brandon Lowe comes in one for two with that home run he hit earlier and in that last at bat it makes you think this guy might have went up there looking for the breaking ball because he's certainly got a breaking ball and he didn't miss it hit it right on the screws fastball in there for a cold strike time run stands on deck but it will only matter if the guy in the box can get on base yeah and that has to be his mentality at the plate right now man he can't be the hero so he needs to do what he can to give the guy behind him a chance to be the guy to wind up and the O2 pitch this is on the ground over to first and he'll take it to the bag himself for the out with the plate G-man joint he got on top of one and was a ground out victim last time and field shifted well to the right here's the first pitch fouled off seventh inning here at the ballpark for to our score lays off the slider and it's one and one one and two now now here's the pitch couldn't pull the trigger and there are two away well we've seen some really good pitching from these guys in this one the bullpen has looked sharp and it backed up a nice effort turned in by the starter these days pitching has become a full staff effort and I've been impressed with the job these guys have done so far at the plate now will he a dumbest and this is hit hard to the right side foul to the wind up here comes the O and one breaking ball below the zone that's ball one past meetings against Louis Sessa just a one for 12 career line high in the air out to center field Gardner is there he makes the play and that'll end the inning down in order go the Rays they trail it here four to two has role it's the call from the pen to take over on the mound and start the home seven another shot now Gary Sanchez a hit in two tries so far Gary comes set here's the nothing and nothing pitch fastball laid off well below the knees roll was known as a short relief specialist a guy who came in got one or two big outs but with the new pace of play rules they're forcing a change for this right hander one in one the count one and two to the Yankees catcher ready on one and two maybe trying to back him up a bit there with the fastball when you've got a guy that throws a good two scene fastball you have to be ready for him to try to run it inside and jam you a good job to lay off that one but I wouldn't be surprised if we see it again to two is a wave and a miss he struck him out it's not that easy to make a good hitter look that bad but that's what happens when you can bring that fastball and write it in on the inner half of the plate right there you can get some pretty ugly swings the plate Torres as he would look at a first pitch fastball for ball one he could really use a knock here 0 for three in the game so far he watches one miss outside 2 and 0 now it's a lot easier to hit when you're putting yourself in good hitters counts this guy's done a great job not swinging at pitchers pitches and when he's getting a ball in his own he's getting a barrel to it he's been hot lately and wow that looked to be well inside but it's a called strike 2 and 1 now on out nobody on ball misses upstairs is yet moves things to 3 and 1 now every base runner in a close game like this really matters so you can afford to be giving out free passes this late there's all for now that might talk for his career in this matchup he's one for two he set and the pitch no row 33 years old was selected in the first round back in 2005 yeah he has turned himself into a really nice ball player I wouldn't put him on a superstar level but you know what they didn't miss with this pick either you go into high rounds and you carve out a career the way this guy has nice pick 2 and 0 to the Yankees left fielder Torres the runner at first with one gun in the inning doing one after the foul ball there the pitch took a good cut that time it comes up empty 2 and 2 hey you know the pitcher right now he's looking for that best friend that double play ball this is where you have to really be disciplined at the plate and make sure that you get a pitch that's above the knees that you can get in the air 2 2 pitch is found away working for the punch out and the offering got him and that's the third time we've written a K next to his name in this one well that's just a quality pitch right there location was excellent because if it's put in play there's a good chance it's on the ground for a double play and hey it's strikeout always works too so now to the plate Giorge Shella and she'll go after the first pitch to him and comes up empty at strike one one for two in the ball game thus far up and in keeping him honest one and one awfully confused up there right now it's one and two see guys he is human occasionally an ugly swing right there he's having a monster season so I'm going to give him a free pass and a slider runs away from him there and the count levels at two and two a doubled up on breaking balls there outside now might be the time to bust that fastball in two two and now this ball is lifted in the air down the right field line but this will get back into the seats so the count holds at two and two on the belt the pitch here's one that misses inside and the counts run full now three and two while these guys are really grinding out their bats in this one they're not making any outs easy to get and that of course is having a huge impact on the pitch count we ground her down the first baseline but this will get foul so they'll do it again three and two their full count pitch home lofted in the air out toward right center and Meadows makes the catch for route number three Yanks leave one as they can't add to their four to two lead Adam Otavino has been summoned from the bullpen as he'll do his job at the eighth number zero better to begin the eighth and next will be the power hitting catcher Mike Sanino even though we're moving into the back end of this game they're only down by a couple runs you know that old slogan a bloop in a blast they could certainly use that right now the first pitch to him this is in the air to left left and he's got a really good opening chase he makes the catch a great effort to get there and record the first out of the inning stepping in Kevin Keermire is head to head numbers against Adam Otavino he's hit listen free at bats to catch him napping but he missed the bunt attempt strike one pitch on the way to swung on and miss two are quickly retired to start any number eight that's not an at bat he or his hitting coach are going to be happy with that all it's bad enough to go down in three pitches but none of them were even in the strike zone that's a bad look into the box now Jose Martinez as the first pitch to him is in there for recalled strike one the 0 1 pitch and it's fouled away I don't know what to he misses with the fastball getting late for to our score as we play the eighth inning that here's the two two boy went from being in the driver's seat to now being in some trouble had to count 0 and 2 started nipping at the corners and next thing you know this count stands at three and two he struck him out the third time he's fanned in the game raise go in order one two three still down by a count of four to two common Pochet is on to pitch out of the bullpen in the bottom half of the eighth number 38 calling Pochet striding in once again look boy it was a walk in his last trip the first base made first delivery to him on the way under no delivery and that swung on and missed on a pitch down one and one two balls and a strike to the Yankees first baseman and he can't catch the corner here so he's behind three and one it's been a great job so far by the eight hole hitter if he finds a way to get on base this could spell for a huge and this is taken here for ball four so the leadoff man's on base to kick off the home eighth now with the play Tyler way he's hit listen three at bats to this point first pitch on its way no one no one will track it down void on at first nobody out and he lays off this one down and in for ball two point not exactly what you'd like as a pitcher one of the keys is to minimize your pitches attack the strike zone early a lot of deep counts and working himself into a lot of trouble not cheated on that one it's two and two that's exactly the pitch you don't want to be chasing in these situations he's going to keep that ball down below the hollow of the knee try and get you to ground into a double play you have to set your sights at least belt high there's a fastball well off the plate for a ball left handed batter waiting on deck though there's a good shot he might get pulled back a runner at first with no outs here smoked on the ground up the middle and there's his first base hit in this one here's Brett Gardner now as he gets a good curveball here to start the at bat it's strike one it's been a two for four effort for him so far in the ball game a fastball just off the black and it's even at one like the fastball got away from him there it's ball to a lots of guys get too aggressive in a spot like this but he's done a nice job of gaining some count leverage look for him to put the ball and play hard lifted in the air to center field Kiermeyer is there and he has it for the first out so it's a tight spot here first and second one man out and that'll bring up the former American League rookie of the year big Aaron judge from the stretch don't be shocked if he doesn't go right back to that splitter again he's looking for a double play and that pitch certainly has enough depth on it to get him a ground ball and a shot hit down the corner and it'll fade just at the end and winds up a long foul ball sent back up the middle there's one relay to first in time and just like that this side is retired one left for the Yankees but they still lead this one four to two the oldest Chapman comes on from the pen hoping to finish this one off here in the top of the ninth line against Chapman he's over four off we go in the ninth as the first pitch misses for ball one all in a strike Chapman nicknamed the missile for obvious reasons he's an 11 year vet at the major league level so he certainly puts together a nice career in professional baseball set here comes the one one and he wasn't going to hit that one with an or the strikeout and there's one gone another strikeout for him on the mound and boy is it fun to watch him go about his business God no doubt man he's one of my favorites mostly because of his stuff you know he can absolutely dominate on any given day because of what he offers up there it's just nasty there aren't many hitters that like to see this guy on the mound standing in now Hunter Renfro as the first pitch to him is off the plate for a ball one and oh a hidden two tries for him so far but a foul ball one and two the count now a swing and a miss he offered at a ball way outside the strike zone for out number two well you have to feel pretty confident about the way this one's going to end up as a manager two hitters two strikeouts from the closer there's not a whole lot more he can do to instill confidence that he's going to wrap this thing up without any problem into the box now Yandy Diaz he comes to the plate as the last chance for his side two out here in the ninth ready with the first pitch here it comes now a swing and he pops him up and this should do it he brings it in and the Yankees have taken the rubber match of this three game set as this ball game is over man facing Chapman is not for the faint of heart as he unleashes fireball after fireball gets the final out here and another save what a weapon Chapman is four to two the final score today New York took the lead in the fourth and held on until the end James Paxton burns the win his second Charlie Morton couldn't escape the fourth inning as he slapped with the loss a oldest Chapman wraps it up for the save his fifteenth of the campaign so that just about does it for Mark DeRosa Dan please act Heidi Watney and our entire crew on Matt Vaskers and you've been watching MLB the show