Checked Swing


It's April 6th, 2016, Yankees hosting the Astros on a chilly early-season night.

Bottom of the 1st inning, Yanks down 1-0 on a Carlos Correia homer off Michael Pineda. But that Houston lead would not last long.

After Jacoby Ellsbury reached on catcher's interference, Colin McHugh walked Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez walked. Mark Teixeira comes up in an ideal situation: bases loaded, no one out. And McHugh's pitch looks tempting. But maybe, it's not. Apparently, it's not. He checks his swing.

A split second decision. No batter wants to mess up. You want to cash in. But not right now. Teixeria works a full count off McHugh. In fact, he's the fourth straight batter to do so that inning. His patience pays off -- he singles on that 3-2 pitch, bringing Ellsbury home as the Yankees score the first of six 1st inning runs to put the game away.

And Tex's patience helped make it happen.

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