Yankees took three out of four from Boston before embarking on seven-game road trip, opening a three-game lead on the Baltimore Orioles.
Lately, it has been a good run for the New York Yankees, who find themselves in good shape as the playoffs inch closer. Recently, they won three out of four against the rival Boston Red Sox. It is fair to say that New York is playing red-hot with just 12 games left in the regular season. They are indeed taking advantage of the Baltimore Orioles’s losses in the standings.
Baltimore finds themselves now three games behind New York for first place in the AL East. The Orioles just recently lost two out of three to the Detroit Tigers. New York, however, must stay focused and maintain their momentum as they head on the road. They will now travel to Seattle to take on the Mariners, who are also fighting for a playoff spot.
Judge Homeless Streak Drought Continues
It had been a tough stretch for OF Aaron Judge, who hadn’t been able to hit a homer in his at-bats. But this isn’t the first time that this has happened. Dating back to 2017, he went homerless in 15 straight games from Aug.17 through Sept.2. He finished the night going 1-for-4. But he wasn’t the only storyline of Thursday night’s win over the Red Sox. OF Juan Soto and LHP Nestor Cortes were also key contributors to the Yanks’ 2-1 win over Boston.
Juan Soto, who had been in a cold streak, earned his first career walk-off in blue pinstripes. Soto’s game-winning hits comes after New York outlasted the Kansas City Royals in extra innings, started by 3B Jazz Chisholm. New York has not recorded back-to-back walk-off victories ever since May 8-9, 2021, against the Washington Nationals. Hopefully, the walk-off hit by Soto is a good sign of what’s to come. New York needs him to get going as they prepare for their October run in the upcoming weeks.
Then there was Nestor Cortes. He deserves credit, as well. He limited the Red Sox just one run in five innings while striking out nine batters. The bullpen then shut down the Sox for five innings, with CP Clay Holmes getting the win.
Judge’s Homeless Streak Finally Come to an End
You can say it’s finally over. Aaron Judge has finally ended his longest home run drought of his career with a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning. That blast had put the team ahead of the Red Sox by the score of 5-4. It was the key difference of the entire game. After all, New York’s offense was shut down for most of the game thanks to Boston’s outstanding pitching. New York was not able to get on the board until the seventh inning.
For the second straight night, starting pitching has done a solid job for New York once again. Going up for the Yankees was RHP Clarke Schmidt. This is second start since coming off the IL for him. Unfortunately, he got the no-decision, but he had a great game. He pitched through five-and-two-third innings, allowing two runs while striking out five. The bullpen did a nice job getting the last remaining outs. RHP Mark Leiter got four outs in relief, which was just enough to get the win. Last but not least, RHP Luke Weaver struck out five in two scoreless innings to earn his second career save.
Bizarre Loss in the Bronx
Saturday’s afternoon loss was indeed a tough one to forget about. Going up for New York was RHP Gerrit Cole. He was pitching decently until the fourth inning. His bizarre decision to walk 3B Rafael Devers intentionally with one out in the fourth led to the Sox hitting him hard. After the walk, Cole allowed three runs to score in the inning. The first one was an RBI double by DH Masataka Yoshida to make it 1-1. Then OF Wilyer Abreu lined an RBI single to right to give Boston the lead.
Boston wasn’t done doing damaged to Gerrit Cole the following inning. The team added four more runs to make it a blowout. It all started with Rafael Devers, who hit a two-run single with the bases loaded to make it 5-1. Then came Yoshida again. He would drive in two more to score on a single to make it 7-1. Ultimately, Gerrit Cole’s afternoon would end from there. The Yankees bullpen would come in relief for him.
In the postgame, Gerrit Cole admitted he regretted walking Devers. Cole stated, “looking back it was the wrong move,” per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Indeed, that move had Cole pay the price and might have served him up a lesson.
Judge’s 53 Home Run Powers the Yankees to a Series Win
Here comes the Judge. Sunday’s 5-2 victory over the Red Sox was all about Aaron Judge. After missing a hittable pitch in his first at-bat, he was upset. He was able to make up for it in his next at-bat. Judge would take SP Kutter Crawford deep in the third to make it a 4-0 lead for the Yankees. Judge was not the only guy who had homered in that inning. 2B Gleyber Torres, red-hot at the plate, launched a solo shot the opposite way to make it 2-0 before Judge stepped up.
LHP Carlos Rodon was also a key contributor for Sunday’s win. He got through five-and-one-third innings in which he allowed just two runs on six hits and two walks. The bullpen took care of business the rest of the way to secure the series win in the Bronx.
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