Yankees Have To Wait Another Day To Clinch

Aaron Judge touches home plate after rounding the bases on home run #57. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Yankees are on the verge of clinching the American League East, and they nearly did it in incredible fashion on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, as they mounted a massive comeback late - which included Aaron Judge's 57th home run of the season - against the Baltimore Orioles, only to lose 9-7.

With the magic number at 1, the Yankees fell to 92-66, while the Orioles, who are right behind them and clinched a playoff berth on Tuesday night, are now 88-70.

The day for the Yankees began with the sobering news that Nestor Cortes, who was slated to start this game, was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow flexor strain.

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone was asked about what a blow it is to not have Cortes at least well into the playoffs in his pregame press conference on Wednesday afternoon, and he said, “Yeah, no question; he’s been throwing the ball so well, too, obviously, and has put together a really good year. We have to pick up the slack there, and support him right now, and then see what we have over the next several days, just see exactly how he’s responding and things like that.”

Cortes will finish the regular season with a record of 9-10 with a 3.77 ERA (earned run average), 174 1/3 innings pitched, and 162 strikeouts.

In Nestor’s place would be Marcus Stroman, who has been in the bullpen for the past couple weeks and would be making his first start since September 10.

The Orioles went to work on Stroman immediately in the top of the first. Gunnar Henderson hitting one in the hole at shortstop in the Yankees’ kinda sorta shift, in which shortstop Anthony Volpe was playing up the middle and had to run a bit to his right for the grounder, which delayed him making the throw to first base, and Henderson beating it out.

Then, Jordan Westburg hit one up the middle, just out of Volpe’s reach, and Anthony Santander blooped one into shallow center field that also eluded Volpe, and just like that, the bases were loaded.

Colton Cowser then crushed one into the left field corner that Jasson Dominguez overran, so that dunked in for a two-run single.

Santander tried getting to third, and the Yankees nabbed him on a 9-6-2-6, perfectly executed between Dominguez, Volpe, and catcher Austin Wells.

Ryan Mountcastlr followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0 Baltimore before Stroman worked out of the long frame. 

Boone said of how the first inning went, "You know, obviously, they found some holes off of Stro. They kept finding the holes from the first at-bat of the game. I thought he made a good pitch to Henderson, kind of jammed him, and you know, he's able to beat it with his speed. They found some holes, we didn't make a play, although we end up getting an out on the fly ball. 

On if Dominguez should have made the play in the left field corner, Boone said, "Yeah, that's a play - I mean, look, it's going to the line here like that off a lefty, where it's slicing if it's a windy night. That's a challenging chance, you know, but one we've got to make too, but definitely that's probably as tough a one as you're going to get with that lefty slicing it to the line with the wind doing some things to it."

The Yankees got on the board in the bottom of the second against Baltimore starter Zach Eflin, as Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo drew walks before Volpe laced an RBI single to make it 3-1 Baltimore.

In the top of the fourth, the Orioles got to Stroman again, as Ramon Urias and Cedric Mullins opened the frame with singles. 

Mullins would steal second base, and then with one out, Henderson brought home two runs to make it 5-1 and that chased Stroman from the game.

Gunnar Henderson lining one past the drawn-in Yankee infield for a two-run single in the fourth inning. Photo by Jason Schott.

Clayton Beeter was first out of the Yankees bullpen, and after he struck out Jordan Westberg for the second out of the frame, he gave up a pair of RBI singles to Santander and Cowser, and Baltimore was up 7-1.

The Santander RBI that brought in Henderson closed the book on Stroman, whose final line was: 3 1/3 innings, 10 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 0 walks, 1 strikeout.

Baltimore added another run in the fifth against Beeter when Mullins drew a two-out walk, stole second again, and came in to score on a single by James McCann that made it 8-1.

The Yankees finally got to Eflin in the bottom of the fifth. Rizzo led off with a single, and then Volpe ripped one to the warning track in right field, just missing a two-run home run.

That would come two batters later, as Juan Soto drilled one to right field, #41 on the season, and it was now an 8-3 game.

Then, Eflin allowed a single to Judge and walked Wells. That would be the end of his night, as Baltimore went to Jacob Webb with Giancarlo Stanton coming up. 

Stanton lined one to Henderson at short, and befitting the theme of the night, it popped out of his glove, allowing Stanton to reach and load the bases. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then flew out to right to end the Yankees’ best threat of the night.

Baltimore tacked on a run in the eighth, on an RBI single by Westburg, and that made it 9-3.

That run would look larger than one would have thought, as the Yankees rallied against Baltimore reliever Matt Bowman (a 2012 Brooklyn Cyclone) in the bottom of the ninth.

With a fair amount of the 41,010 that were in attendance still hoping to see the Yankees clinch, Rizzo opened it up with a single, followed by a one-out knock from Gleyber Torres. Then, Soto laced one to right to bring in Rizzo and make it 9-4.

Judge was up next, and he crushed one to left center field that landed in the Baltimore bullpen. The three-run shot, #57 on the season for #99, made it 9-7, and that was all for Bowman.

The O's turned to lefty Keegan Akin, and he got Wells to fly out along the left field line, and Stanton hit a pop-out to second base to end it.

Boone said of the Yankees having to play catch-up all night, and that the first inning was "Rough. I mean, we didn't play well from early in this game, feel like we kind of righted the ship and steadied a little bit and completed well and had a lot of good at-bats as the game went on. Cody (Poteet), obviously came on and did a nice job and and gave us some length...Just didn't play real well early, and couldn't quite get back in it."

Webb got the win for Baltimore, as he improved to 2-5 with a 3.15 ERA, since Eflin came one out short of being eligible for the W. Stroman took the loss, and he is now 10-9, with a 4.31 ERA.