Yanks Sweep Nats

After salvaging the last game of a bad 4-game series against the hated Red Sox, the Yankees took on the struggling Washington Nationals at home.

On Monday night, rookie Cam Schlittler kept the nice start to his career going. He pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 8. He had thrown 96 pitches. A sensible manager would have let him in.

We will never know if Aaron Boone is a sensible manager, because Brian Cashman has ordered him to observe a pitch limit. So he brought Yerry De los Santos in to pitch the 7th inning. He pitched a perfect 7th and a scoreless 8th. Sounds good, right? Right. Under these circumstances, Boone would be expected to take him out and bring in another pitcher to pitch the 9th, right?

Well, he would be expected to, but he didn't. You see, the Yankees had a 10-0 lead. Yes, they gave a pitcher who had given them a great start a lot of offense. Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez hit home runs. Domínguez and Cody Bellinger each had 3 RBIs. And De los Santos had only thrown 22 pitches. So, this time, no need to tax the bullpen any further.

De los Santos allowed a single to start the top of the 9th, but got a double play. One out to go. Then he allowed single, single, bases-loading walk, bases-loaded walk. Now, Boone had to bring in another reliever. It was Mark Leiter Jr., and he allowed a grand slam. Suddenly, it was 10-5. But Leiter got a strikeout for the final out.

De los Santos was optioned to Triple-A ball. He needs more seasoning. Hopefully, next year, he'll be ready for the major leagues. (He'll be 28 in December: He should already be ready.)

On Tuesday night, Luis Gil took the mound. He pitched 5 innings, allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 4 walks, and struck out 5. This time, Boone used 4 relievers, and they allowed no runs. He deserved run support, and Giancarlo Stanton supplied it all: A 3-run double in the 3rd inning, and a long 2-run homer in the 6th. Yankees 5, Nationals 1.

Could Max Fried keep the strong starts going yesterday afternoon, in the series finale? He could. He took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, and finished the 7th having allowed 1 tin on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6.

Could the Yankees keep up the strong run support? They could. How many times did the Yankees score in the bottom of the 3rd inning?

Nine times. This included home runs by Judge, Bellinger, Rice and Ryan McMahon. Trent Grisham and Austin Wells also homered in the game. Yankees 11, NationJudge, Sweep completed, winning streak at 4.

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There are 39 games left in the regular season. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games behind those pesky Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division -- 4 in the all-important loss column.

If the current standings hold at the end of the regular season, the Yankees will be the 5th seed in the AL side of the Playoffs, playing the despised Boston Red Sox, who would have the home-field advantage -- something we badly want to avoid.

The Yankees now head west, for 4 games in Chicago against the White Sox. Given how much the Nats were struggling, how historically bad the ChiSox have been the last 2 years, and how much more difficult the Yankees' schedule will be after that, it was imperative that they do well in this stretch of 7 games. So far, so good.