With the walk-off win on Tuesday night, the Yankees officially wrapped up a playoff berth, setting off celebrations as that occasion always does. However in the Yankees’ particular case, there’s still
more to play for. Going into Wednesday, the Yankees trailed the Blue Jays by just one game in the AL East standings. In this particular season, the difference between a division title will mean the difference between a bye in the first round or having to put your season on the line in a best-of-three Wild Card Series. Especially considering that the Yankees and Jays currently hold and could end up with the two best AL records, that’s an important distinction.
Well on the field on Wednesday night, the Yankees were all business. Thanks to another good start from Max Fried and a pair of homers from Aaron Judge, the Yankees got past the White Sox without issue, as they downed Chicago 8-1, drawing even in the AL East race.
The Yankees started the bottom of the first with the first three batters all reaching base. However, the next three then went down in order in frustrating fashion. Naturally, the White Sox followed that by getting on the board. Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery led off the second with back-to-back singles, setting up runners on the corners. Lenyn Sosa then only hit a fly ball in the next at-bat, but it was deep enough for Vargas to tag up and score. Fried got the next two outs after that to evade further damage.
However, the Captain ensured that wouldn’t happen again the following inning. Thanks to an Anthony Volpe double and a Trent Grisham walk, the Yankees had two on, but with two outs there was danger of them coming up empty again. However, Judge got a hold of one and homered to right-center to put the Yankees in front.
It was Judge’s 50th home run of the season. In reaching that mark, Judge became just the fourth player ever with four 50+ home run season, and he joined some elite company in that club.
An inning later, the Yankees added more to their lead. Ben Rice managed to race around the bases for a triple after Michael A. Taylor couldn’t come up with a catch on the line drive. Paul Goldschmidt then singled to bring him home. Following that, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a fly ball that again couldn’t be tracked down by Taylor. This time it was Goldschmidt motoring, as he scored from first on the play.
After the early trouble, Fried didn’t run into too much difficulty, other than a spot here or there. After stranding a runner to end the seventh, Fried departed with the Yankees in control. In his seven frames, Fried allowed just the one run on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. He’s now lined up to get the start in Game 1 of whatever postseason round the Yankees begin in, and considering how he’s pitched in recent weeks, he’s the exact pitcher you’d like to see in that spot.
Devin Williams replaced Fried and he had an easy outing in the eighth. After that, the Yankees’ offense fully put the game away. With Ryan McMahon on after a walk, Trent Grisham hit his 34th homer of the season. Not to be outdone, Judge went deep for the second time on the the night, extending the lead to seven runs. Paul Blackburn got the ninth inning and allowed one single, but any worries didn’t form beyond that.
Elsewhere, the Red Sox crushed the Blue Jays, meaning with the win the Yankees have drawn even atop the AL East standings. Having lost the tiebreaker to Toronto, the Yankees do need to finish clearly ahead of the Jays to win the division and likely get the bye for the Wild Card Series, but they’re now just one more Toronto loss away from controlling their own destiny.
With a chance to potentially take the division lead alone, the Yankees will wrap up their series against the White Sox tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. ET. Carlos Rodón is set to get the start opposite Davis Martin for Chicago.
