Cole and Judge Lead Yanks Past A's

The Yankee being on the Pacific Coast is unpleasant for many reasons, most of all the difficulty they traditionally have winning there, regardless of the current conditions of the Oakland Athletics (whom they're (playing in their current series), the team now known as the Los Angeles Angels (whom they play in their next series), and the Seattle Mariners (whom they don't play on this roadtrip).

But one advantage is that, usually, the teams in the race with the Yankees for whatever they're going for are done, or almost done, with their game by the time the Yankees start theirs. Such was the case yesterday: The Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees' closest challengers for the American League Eastern Division title, both lost; while the Houston Astros, whom the Yankees are chasing for the best record in the AL and thus home-field advantage in the Playoffs, also lost.

So this game, against the struggling A's, was a big opportunity. They had to take advantage of it.

Gerrit Cole was ready, and he pitched like an ace: 7 1/3rd innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts. He now has exactly 200 strikeouts on the season. Barring injury, he will have 6 more starts in the regular season. If he averages 8 strikeouts a game, he will tie the Yankee single-season record, set by Ron Guidry with 248 in 1978.

(Cole fell just short last season, with 243. Between Guidry and Cole, the best performances were by CC Sabathia in 2011 and Luis Severino in 2017, both with 230. Andy Pettitte holds the career record with 2,020.)

But JP Sears, whom the Yankees sent to Oakland in the Frankie Montas trade, kept the Yankees off the board for 4 innings. But rookie Oswaldo Cabrera led off the top of the 5th with a single, and DJ LeMahieu led off with another. Here came da Judge, and there went da ball: Aaron Judge hit his 49th home run of the season. He's now on a pace for 63.

Cole said, "It's really special to get to have the best seat in the house every night for The Aaron Judge Show, which is one-of-a-kind right now." He's right: Next-best in the major leagues is Kyle Schwarber, the former Chicago Cubs star now with the Philadelphia Phillies, with 35.

Judge also leads the major leagues with 109 RBIs, a stunning figure given that manager Aaron Boone nearly always bats him 2nd in the order. Pete Alonso of the Mets leads the National League with 105. Only 1 Met has ever led the NL in RBIs: Howard Johnson, with 117 in 1991. The last time New York had the RBI champion in both leagues? 1945: Nick Etten had 111, while Dixie Walker of the Brooklyn Dodgers had 124.

Those were the only runs the Yankees would score. But they would be the only runs the Yankees would need. Jonathan Loáisiga finished the 8th inning for Cole. Wandy Peralta allowed a run in the 9th, but only the 1. Yankees 3, A's 2. WP: Cole (10-6). SV: Peralta (3). LP: Sears (5-1).

The Yankees now lead the Rays by 8 1/2 games, and the Jays by 9 1/2. The Magic Number to clinch the AL East is 29. They trail the Astros by 2 1/2, by 2 in the all-important loss column.

The series continues tonight. Domingo Germán starts for the Yankees, Adam Oller for the A's.