Yanks Getting Healthier, But Need to Win

After taking 2 of 3 from The Other Team, and discovering Legionnaire's disease in the cooling tower at Yankee Stadium -- funny how that happened while Met fans were in the building -- the Yankees rather conveniently began a roadtrip, facing the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Will Warren started on Monday night, and allowed 2 runs in 5 2/3rds innings. José Caballero got the Bronx Bombers on the board with a solo home run in the 3rd. It was 2-1 Twins when the top of the 8th began with a double by George Lombard Jr. This was followed by a single by Ryan McMahon, a strikeout by Austin Wells, an RBI single by Caballero, a 2-RBI single by Ben Rice, an infield single by Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge's 1st home run since coming off the Injured List, his 1st since May. It was the 386th of his career, and it went 411 feet into the 2nd deck of the bleachers.

This made Tim Hill the pitcher of record, but he allowed a home run in the bottom half of the inning. But Wells added a homer in the 9th, and the Yankees won, 8-3.

Max Fried started on Tuesday night, and was allowed to go 7 innings, allowing just 1 run. Bellinger homered in the 1st inning, Spencer Jones did so in the 6th, and the Yankees won, 8-1.

Yesterday afternoon's game turned out to be frustrating. Carlos Rodón pitched well, allowing 2 runs over 6 innings, and Clarke Schmidt returned from the IL, though he only faced 4 batters, getting 2 of them out. But the Yankees didn't score until the 9th, getting singles from Lombard and Paul Goldschmidt, and a 2-RBI double from Anthony Volpe, sending the game to extra innings.

Each team scored a run in the 10th, and again in the 11th, thanks to the stupid "ghost runner" rule. But the Yankees stranded a runner on 1st in the 10th, and had men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out in the 12th, but couldn't score. In the bottom of the 13th, Victor Caratini singled Luke Keaschall home with the winning run, off David Bednar: Twins 5, Yankees 4.

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The Yankees have clinched at least a Playoff berth, but trail the Tampa Bay Rays by 4 1/2 games in the American League Eastern Division. They have 10 games left, the Rays 11, including 4 against each other. The Yankees have today off, while the Rays finish a series with the Sacramento Athletics this afternoon.

Starting tomorrow night, the Yankees have 3 away to the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Rays have 3 at home to the Boston Red Sox. In other words, we have to root for the Red Sox. We're gonna need a lot of showers this weekend.

Then come 4 in The Bronx between the Yankees and Rays. The Yankees then finish the regular season with 3 at home to the Baltimore Orioles, while the Rays finish with 3 away to the Philadelphia Phillies. In other words, the 4 between them aside, the schedule is a bit friendlier to the Yankees. Can we take advantage? We are getting healthier, but we still need to win.