“James Paxton is a horse and we’re riding that man into October”, tweeted Eric Hubbs of BarStool Sports. It was the tweet of the night. Paxton pitched into the 7th — 4-hit shutout baseball. He walked 3; struck out 7 in 6.2 innings — he has now won 8 games in a row and his record is 13-6 3.96 which surprisingly is starting to resemble this year’s Red Sox ace — Eduardo Rodriguez (17-6 3.73) whom he outdueled in this game.
Rodriguez pitched 6 innings and allowed 1 run — a homerun to Austin Romine in the 5th to break the scoreless tie and pitcher’s duel.
A Night at the Oppo Ro. pic.twitter.com/vjJefpwtg4
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 10, 2019
Red Sox manager Alex Cora reached for a reliever in the 7th and — unlike Friday night when the Sox hurled 7 (seven) relievers having a good night against the Yanks — picked a guy having an off night: Darwinzon Hernandez. Gio Urshela led off the 7th with a home run over the Green Monster, Austin Romine singled, DJ LeMahieu singled in Romine, and Cora went to the pen again for Trevor Kelley who was met with a double by Aaron Judge and sac fly by Gleyber Torres — 4-0 Yanks and that was ballgame.
Hot Gio Summer, so you know he gotta hit. pic.twitter.com/FMgu8cGGhE
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 10, 2019
New York, New York
The Yankees officially eliminated the Red Sox from American League East title contention — the Red Sox had won 3 straight titles — and the Yankees blared Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York in their clubhouse afterwards — in response to the Red Sox blaring New York, New York in their clubhouse at Yankee Stadium after eliminating the Yankees in the playoff series last year — and that a response to Aaron Judge blaring New York, New York as he made his way to the team bus at Fenway after the Yanks beat Boston in Game 2 of that series last Fall. Some Yankee fans on Twitter objected to the Yankee move, feeling the Yanks had proven nothing so far. Others countered it was good to let them be feisty.
Paxton Scintillating — Again
Meanwhile Paxton was scintillating. Manager Aaron Boone said almost exactly the same words he said about Paxton after his last start: “The stuff speaks for itself; when you have 3 great pitches like that. But I think the conviction from a game plan; knowing exactly what he wants to do; how he wants to attack — yea he’s in a really good place.” When asked for his thoughts on Paxton rising for the playoffs, Boone answered, “You certainly like to see guys at their best this time of year, no question.”
Luke Voit singled in an insurance run in the 9th and Aaron Boone relaxed the bullpen — throwing Zack Britton in for an out to complete the 7th, and then Cory Gearrin and Tyler Lyons in for shutout 8th and 9th innings.
Etcetera
Gio Urshela was 2 for 4 with the homer and is now batting .332. He now has 419 plate appearances and needs 502 to qualify for the batting lead — he needs 83 more plate appearances. The Yankees have 17 games left. Gio would need to average 4.8 plate appearances in each game the rest of the season to qualify — in other words get 5 plate appearances per game in 14 of the remaining Yankee games, and 4 plate appearances in the 3 other games. Last night, batting 7th — he only got 4 plate appearances. Meaning the Yanks need to move him up in the lineup to give him a better chance of qualifying.
DJ LeMahieu went 1 for 5 and is batting .326. He is 2nd in the AL behind Tim Anderson‘s .334.
With the win the Yanks are 95-50, tied with Houston for best record in baseball and the American League. However, the Astros won the season series 4-3 so the Yanks must finish with a better record to get home field advantage if the two teams meet in the playoffs. The Dodgers are now 2 games back.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=401076886
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