“Ever since I started playing baseball professionally, I never evaluated myself based off win-loss”, he said.
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A source of consistency in this season of surprise and upheaval, Tanaka was at his best on Saturday, asserting himself as a legitimate Cy Young candidate with a 5-1 gem of a win against the Rays at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees closed within three games of AL East-leading Boston, their closest to the lead since mid-April, and are one game back for the second wild-card spot.
“We can taste it a little bit, ” Teixeira said. We watched Derek Jeter pull his hands in and inside-out singles to right field for two decades.
In an unfamiliar role of chaser after a 9-17 start, NY has moved a season-high 10 games over.500 with an unexpected spurt that followed the release of Alex Rodriguez and the trades of Carlos Beltran, Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Ivan Nova.
Each of the seven homers was a solo job, with the game’s other two runs-both scored by New York-coming on an RBI single and an error at the bottom of the first inning. But the throw? You could go a long time without seeing a catcher pick off a runner at second base, let alone as cleanly as Sanchez did. Teixeira went out and got it, pulling it just to the right of the 385 sign on the Yankees’ bullpen.
Sanchez had never tried that, but this wasn’t the first time he’d thought about it. “It’s incredible what these kids have been able to do for us”, Girardi said. I’m going to watch and pay attention to see how he does. “I hope not”, he said. LP: Snell (5-8).
NY had to use five relievers on a night when its bullpen was already short-handed. The Yankees won the last game 7-5, continuing a six-game winning streak.
“In my mind, I’m like, he’s going fastballs away, ” Teixeira said. Ellsbury is 19 for 34 (.559) with two homers against Archer, the most hits by anyone off the right-hander.
There were stoppages of 21 minutes in the fourth inning and 22 minutes in the sixth caused by brief light rain. Tommy Layne (2-1) struck out pinch hitter Logan Morrison with the go-ahead run on first and would started the ninth had the game continued.
The Yankees won their seventh in a row Saturday afternoon, prevailing 5-1 over the Tampa Bay Rays to keep pace in the wild card chase and gain ground in a division race that suddenly seems there for the taking, too. After a Franklin sacrifice bunt, Evan Longoria came to plate looking to drive in the game’s first run.
It was the right-hander’s first major league outing since he started for the Yankees at Tampa Bay on May 14 a year ago. But Romero’s first pitch floated toward the strike zone at 52 miles per hour and Sanchez pounced, mashing it roughly 400 feet to the warning track in center field, leaving just enough room for Mikie Mahtook to make the catch before Brett Gardner scored on the sac fly. Austin’s blast gave the Yankees their fifth walk-off win and occurred on a night when Adam Warren, Tyler Clippard and closer Dellin Betances were unavailable.
On the first pitch from Michael Pineda, Sanchez attempted a rarely seen and even more rarely successful pickoff play across the diamond.
“I’m emptying the tank, ” he said. If we are still in this toward the end of the season, I want to be a big part of this team.
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The Yankees drew 30,194 after 27,532 on Tuesday and 27,631 on Thursday.
