The Trent Grisham Trade with the Padres continues to pay dividends. Grisham jumpstarted the Yankees’ double-digit scoring effort in back-to-back nights, following his three-run bomb last night with a solo shot and another three-run blast tonight to give him 33 on the year. That alongside multi-hit efforts from Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt were enough to overcome a clunker from Luis Gil as the Yankees win the rubber game, 10-5, to make it four series wins out of their last five.
Taj Bradley has had success against the Yankees during his two-and-a-half years with the Rays with a 3.42 ERA in four career starts. That made it imperative that the bats get off to a fast start and that’s just what happened in the first, Aaron Judge reaching on a two-out double and scoring on a Cody Bellinger single.
Sloppy defense made that early run all the more important. Matt Wallner drew a one-out walk in the second and then advanced a base on a pickoff attempt from Gil that sailed over Paul Goldschmidt at first. A Brooks Lee single put runners on the corners and another single from Royce Lewis plated Wallner as the tying run. After a force out, Gil yanked a fastball to Jhonny Pereda that flew to the backstop allowing Lee to score the go-ahead run — it was scored a wild pitch but it was really a ball that Ben Rice should have caught.
As has frequently been the case this season, Trent Grisham came to the rescue in the third, crushing a hanging splitter off the facing of the upper deck in right to tie the game, 2-2. It was his 32nd home run of the season giving him a tank in back-to-back contests.
Gil did better to navigate out of another jam in the third, Byron Buxton leading off with a double followed by a hit-by-pitch of Austin Martin. Gil got Trevor Larnach to bounce into a double play and then induced another grounder from Luke Keaschall to end the inning and strand Buxton at third.
Perhaps buoyed by Gil’s ability to escape the previous innings, the bats exploded in the fourth. Paul Goldschmidt and Jasson Domínguez crushed back-to-back one out doubles to right to retake the lead, 3-2. Ryan McMahon struck out, but that seemed to unlock another gear of concentration with two outs. José Caballero drew a walk to put a pair on for Grisham, and he repeated his feat from the inning prior, demolishing a hanging 1-2 curveball to right for his second home run of the game, this time a three-run blast. His 12 home runs since August 20th leads MLB, and he’s tied with George Springer for the third-most multi homer games at five on the year. The offense wasn’t finished, Rice clubbing a two-out double to keep the rally going, Judge driving him to third with a line drive single to left, and a balk bringing him home as the Yankees plated five in the inning for a 7-2 lead.
It’s a good thing the offense broke out when they did, because Gil came unraveled in the fifth. Pereda led off with a single, but Gil recorded two quick-fire outs to seemingly put him on track for another scoreless inning. However, Gil ceded a pair of two-out singles to Larnach and Keaschall, the latter driving in the Twins’ third run. Gil then walked James Outman to load the bases followed by a Lee single to drive in a pair and knock a visibly frustrated Gil from the game just one out from becoming the pitcher of record. Fernando Cruz recorded the final out to stand the remaining pair of runners, putting a bow on Gil’s final line at five runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks with just two strikeouts across 4.2 innings totaling 85 pitches — by far his worst start since giving up five runs in 3.1 innings in his season debut.
Cruz came back out to complete a 1-2-3 sixth, and then Devin Williams was given the seventh. He continued his strong recent form, striking out Larnach, Keaschall, and Outman after surrendering a leadoff single to Martin. This seemed to spark the offense once more, and they tacked on some crucial late insurance runs. Domínguez was plunked with one out in the eighth and punished the Twins, stealing second and advancing to third on a wild throw into center field. This allowed him to walk home on a McMahon ground ball single through the drawn in infield.
Just in case three runs wasn’t enough of a buffer, Judge and Bellinger made sure that whoever was pitching the ninth would do so with a bigger lead. Judge reached on a one-out single — his third hit and fourth time on base of the contest — and then Bellinger showed off his left-on-left prowess, yanking an 0-1 sinker from Génesis Cabrera over the high wall in right to make it 10-5. It’s his 29th of the season, meaning he and Jazz are each just one home run shy of giving the Yankees four hitters with at least 30 home runs, Judge and Grisham having already reached the mark.
Camilo Doval pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with a pair of strikeouts to finish off the win. The Blue Jays lost earlier to the Rays, meaning the gap to first is reduced to four games.
The Yankees next travel to Baltimore for a four-game set. Max Fried gets the series opener in a battle of the southpaws against Cade Povich. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 pm EDT with the broadcast moving to FOX.
