That’s where the Blue Jays are right now, just short of where they need to be, at a time when it really hurts. The Yankees now trail first-place Toronto by 4 ¹/₂ games in the AL East.
Advertisement
“We’re right in it”. But you’re not going to see any panic from me.
That wasn’t the case Wednesday, when Marcus Stroman needed 97 pitches to grind through five frames, but allowed just two runs while striking out eight. They were swept for the third time this season, the first since May 16-18 by Tampa Bay.
Sanchez allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings and Cessa allowed two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Take for example a two-out double by Troy Tulowitzki in the second inning that they were unable to cash in on.
Baltimore closed to within one game back of Toronto by trouncing Tampa Bay 11-2.
The AL East has been one of the best divisions in baseball this season, and four teams are projected to finish over.500. “We’re excited for this last month”, McCann said.
Making first big league appearance of the year, Mitchell (1-0) tossed five scoreless innings and Luis Severino – who struggled as a starter earlier this season – followed with three sharp innings. The 29-year-old rookie replaced Brad Peacock.
“It feels weird coming back at this point in the season”, Mitchell said.
But the biggest highlight of all came afterward, when a peek at the American League standings revealed that while the Yankees remained 3 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles (who also won) for the second wild-card spot, they had quietly, nearly stealthily crept to within 4 1/2 games of the division-leading Blue Jays, whom they have now beaten two games in a row with a chance to sweep them in Wednesday’s finale.
And that is exciting, whether you’ve done it many times before or it’s your first time around.
Travis got caught breaking for third on Josh Donaldson’s comebacker and was tagged out in a rundown.
The Yankees’ closer Dellin Betances closed the game out by pitching a flawless ninth inning to pick up the save.
NEW YORK-These rebuilding Yankees, who were uncharacteristic sellers at the trade deadline, were not supposed to be a factor in the season’s home stretch.
Castro’s solo shot off Stroman in the third accounted for the game’s first run.
After giving up the homer to left on a 1-1 pitch, Stroman (9-7) yielded a double to Didi Gregorius and a walk to Mark Teixeira.
The win moved the Yankees only 2.5 games behind the Orioles for the second AL wild card spot and 3.5 games behind the Blue Jays, who had to wait for the Red Sox to play on the West Coast to know if they would leave NY tied for first or hold sole possession of the top wild card spot.
METS 6, REDS 3: In Cincinnati, Noah Syndergaard lasted five shaky shutout innings as NY completed a three-game sweep.
Clippard became the AL-high eighth pitcher to earn a save for the Yankees this year, matching a franchise record.
The Blue Jays cashed in only six of 28 runners in scoring position during the three-game series in the Bronx. Dioner Navarro pinch-hit for Martin in the ninth.
Yankees: Rookie catcher Gary Sanchez was given the night off in favor of Austin Romine.RF Aaron Judge also was rested before entering on defense in the seventh.
“(Mitchell) was a big loss, but he’s back now”, Girardi said before the game. Betances probably will be unavailable again Thursday, Girardi said.
White Sox 2, Tigers 0: Jose Abreu hit his fifth homer in seven games, and Miguel Gonzalez came off the disabled list to throw 6 1/3 innings of six-hit ball as Chicago cooled off Detroit.
Toronto RHP Marco Estrada (8-7, 3.56 ERA) starts the series opener Friday night against Red Sox RHP Rick Porcello (19-3, 3.23), the major league leader in wins. Grilli’s night ended when he gave up a two-run homer to Headley putting NY ahead.
Advertisement
Cobb made his second start since having Tommy John surgery in 2015.
