Let's get this out of the way: If the Yankees can sweep the slimy, despicable, abhorrent Boston Red Sox in 4 straight games, without Aaron Judge hitting a home run in the series, I'm fine with it. Winning comes first, personal achievements later.
They're 75 percent of the way to that happening. Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk yesterday, and remained at 60 home runs on the season. The Yankees did get a home run in the bottom of the 1st inning, from Gleyber Torres. Regardless of the sport, I just want my teams to win, and I don't care who the heroes are in any given game.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled home a run in the bottom of the 2nd, but Harrison Bader also tried to score on the play, and was thrown out at the plate. Last year, getting thrown out at the plate happened to the Yankees more often than any other team in the major leagues, and it may have cost us the Division title. This year, it's hardly happened at all, and that may be a reason why we're in 1st place this close to the end.
Oswaldo Cabrera hit a home run in the 4th inning. In the 5th, Josh Donaldsons hit a weak grounder between 3rd and the mound, and it just stopped, and he beat it out, enabling Kyle Higashioka to score. That made the score 5-3 Yankees.
Domingo Germán was the Yankees' starting pitcher, and he was not at his best. Aaron Boone took him out after 5 innings, having allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, including 2 home runs, and a walk, striking out 5. It wasn't the pitch count, which was just 66, that caused Boone to remove him. Nor was it his control: 47 of those pitches were for strikes. He just got hit.
Zack Britton was activated from the Injured List, and made his 1st major league appearance since August 19, 2021. He was rusty: He faced 5 batters and only got 1 out, allowing 3 walks and a single. Lou Trivino got the last 2 outs of the 6th, and the 1st of the 7th. But Boone then removed him, and brought in Lucas Luetge. This was a dumb thing to do, as Luetge allowed 2 hits and the tying run.
However, in the bottom of the 7th, Aaron Hicks drew a leadoff walk, and you know what those can do. Judge was set up to be the hero, but he struck out. It didn't matter, because the next man up was Anthony Rizzo, and he hit a home run. Clarke Schmidt pitched a scoreless 8th. Scott Effross also came off the Injured List, and allowed a hit and a walk in the 9th, but finished the Sox off.
Yankees 7, Red Sox 5. WP: Luetge (4-4). There should be a rule that a pitcher who blows a save should not receive credit as the winning pitcher, even if he's still the team's official pitcher when they take a lead they never relinquish. SV: Effross (3). LP: John Schreiber (3-4).
The Yankees' Magic Number to clinch the American League Eastern Division was reduced to 3. It would get no lower, as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
The series concludes tonight, in the Sunday night ESPN game. Nestor Cortes starts against Brian Bellow. This afternoon, the Jays beat the Rays again. So, if the Yankees win tonight, that would reduce the Magic Number to 2, and would eliminate the Rays from the AL East race, although they would still have an excellent shot at a Wild Card berth in the Playoffs: They will likely get the 6th and last seed, and the team currently 7th in that format, the Baltimore Orioles, are 4 games behind them, which is still a huge improvement for them.
One more note of interest: Yankee "Legend" Don Mattingly will not be manager of the Miami Marlins next season. After taking them to the expanded Playoffs in 2020, he lost 95 games last year, and is on a pace for the same this year. He will see out the regular season, and then, "by mutual agreement," he will leave. I hope that doesn't mean he'll be managing the Yankees next season: The last thing this team needs is The Curse of Donnie Baseball, which has now affected 3 franchises over 40 years, to return to The Bronx.
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