Giancarlo Stanton did it again on Tuesday night.
With the Yankees clinging to a one-run lead in the seventh inning of another vitally important game in terms of the AL Wild Card Standings, Stanton launched a mammoth three-run homer to push the Bombers’ lead to 6-2 over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Yankees would tack on one more insurance run for a pivotal 7-2 win over the Jays, but Stanton’s blast was the key blow in another big win.
“It’s impressive. It’s been a pretty long, extended streak, and obviously in the very recent, it’s just been scorching hot,” Aaron Boone said of Stanton. “He’s a special player. His focus right now is tremendous. I just think he’s walking up there with a lot of conviction and knowing what he wants to do and knowing what he wants to look for. He’s very prepared, and his body’s executing for him.
“We’re playing for keeps, we’re playing for a lot, and I think G is embodying that right now. He understands how important every pitch is, every inning is, every at-bat is, so he’s taking nothing off. … He’s just in a really good place right now mentally as far as giving nothing away.”
It wasn’t only when Stanton hit the home run, it was how. He went down and got a Trevor Richards pitch that most players couldn’t touch, let alone launch for a homer.
“To go down that far and get one, like I say all the time, he’s a unicorn,” said Boone. “We just kind of shake our heads sometimes, and obviously he’s on a great run right now.”
“He threw me a couple that were in the facility of the same pitch, so I just had to make sure I got under that as I got around two of them for foul balls,” Stanton said. “I just had to make sure I stayed inside of it and tried to scoop it. It was a bit in off the plate, but with that mentality, sometimes you’ll get to those.”
In his last four games, Stanton now has 13 RBI, as he’s catapulted the Yankees into a commanding Wild Card lead. Yet despite his success, he’s still thinking about the hits he hasn’t come up with.
“I’d say just mentally mastering each at-bat, being mentally prepared for the at-bat, which I don’t feel like I did a good job my first three at-bats,” Stanton said after the game. “So, I had to get back to the drawing board mid-game to adjust some things to make sure I’m wired back in incase I get another chance. I had two opportunities with runners in scoring position that I didn’t capitalize on. I know I’m not going to capitalize on all of them, but I just wasn’t happy with the way I didn’t capitalize on it.”