The Yankees gained more ground on the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card race, as they beat them on Tuesday for their seventh win in a row.
Here are the takeaways…
1. Giancarlo Stanton did Giancarlo Stanton things. With the Yanks up 3-2 in the seventh, he golfed a three-run home run with two outs to give the Yankees a commanding 6-2 lead. Stanton has homered in his last four games and has 14 RBI in that span. He became the 10th Yankee with 14 RBI in a four-game stretch, and the first since Alfonso Soriano did it in 2013.
2. Jameson Taillon made his first start since Sept. 6, as he was on the IL with an ankle injury. He walked his first batter, George Springer, on four pitches. After retiring Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette hit an RBI single to give Toronto an early 1-0 lead. He retired five straight, but in the third, he re-aggravated the injury, and he left the game with one out in the third.
3. Michael King was the first reliever out of the pen after Taillon’s injury, and he gave the Yankees 2.2 very important innings, allowing just one run in the process. Those 2.2 innings were enough to get the Yankees to their high-leverage relievers in the sixth (we’ll get to that later).
4. The Yankees got things going early with back-to-back singles by Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge to bring Stanton up with runners on second and third (Judge advanced on the throw) and one out. But Stanton struck out, and Joey Gallo popped out to end the early threat. However, in the third, on a 3-2 pitch with two outs, Judge, dislocated pinky and all, lined an opposite field home run to tie the game at one.
5. In the fourth, Corey Dickerson doubled in Bichette to give Toronto a 2-1 lead, but the Yankees answered back in the fifth. With runners on first and second and one out, Rizzo dunked in an opposite field single to drive in Gio Urshela and tie it up at two. Judge then gave the Yanks a 3-2 lead with a sac fly. We mentioned Stanton’s HR, and for good measure, Urshela added a solo home run in the ninth.
6. Clay Holmes, Chad Green, Luis Severino, and Wandy Peralta combined for 4.0 scoreless, hitless innings. The Blue Jays’ last 10 batters were retired in order.
7. The Red Sox lost to the Orioles, 4-2. So the Yankees now lead the top Wild Card spot by two games, have a three-game lead for the second spot, and their magic number now stands at three.
What’s next
The Yankees can clinch a Game 163 (if necessary) on Wednesday, and they’ll have Gerrit Cole on the bump in what could be his final regular season start. The Blue Jays will return with Jose Berrios.