The Yankees clubbed the Blue Jays over and over and over again, and Gerrit Cole pitched 7 strong, smooth innings for the 12-1 victory on a beautiful not-so-cold September night in Buffalo. The Yanks started their run barrage slowly, but just kept clubbing away as the evening progressed. Aaron Judge got 3 hits, Gio Urshela got 4, and Gleyber Torres got 3 as the hit parade continued through the evening — except for DJ LeMahieu, aiming for the batting title, who went 0-4. Giancarlo Stanton got the night off but who even knew he was missing?
The “Yankees lineup is “dangerous, long, and deep”, per John Flaherty,” tweeted Andrew M.
Aaron Hicks went 2-4 with 3 RBI’s. Kyle Higashioka was robbed of what appeared to be a 3-run homer and had to settle for a 2-RBI double off the top of the wall in the 7th — he finished 2-4 with 2 RBI.
Higgy just keeps hitting 🔥 pic.twitter.com/izHycyCtoC
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 23, 2020
The Yanks pounded out 15 hits and 12 runs on a night when Clint Frazier went 0-4, Luke Voit went 0-4, and LeMahieu went 0-4 — the 3 guys who had been carrying them.
As Brian McNamara pointed out on twitter, “Three weeks ago, this was exactly the sort of game the Yankees lose. DJ no base hits, Voit no base hits, Clint no base hits. All of a sudden there are people to pick up the load when those guys have a slow day. Gio and Judge come back, and Hicks finds his swing. Good things.”
Yanks JUMPED On Top
The game started off with a single by Aaron Judge as the second batter, and a triple by Aaron Hicks. Then a wild pitch by Toronto starter Tanner Roark and it was 2-0 Yanks less than 5 minutes into the top of the 1st. It would be all the runs the Yankees needed. The game was essentially over.
1st Inning in review:
Judge 🙌
Hicks 💨 pic.twitter.com/06WJ4A5SkC— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 22, 2020
Gio Urshela singled in a run in the 4th to make it 3-0.
Was Only 3-1 Yanks Into the 5th
After a Cavan Biggio solo homer in the bottom of the 4th made it 3-1, the Yanks put the game away in the 5th with 4 runs to make it 7-1 on a Judge RBI single, Hicks 2-RBI single, and Gleyber Torres RBI single.
Fury in the 5th: pic.twitter.com/LvleDqHbrH
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 23, 2020
Yanks Relentless
And the Yanks just wouldn’t relent — adding 3 more runs in the 8th, and 2 in the 9th for the 12-1 victory.
Cole = Ace
The other story of the night was the splendid pitching of Gerrit Cole, who looks like the ace the Yanks were hoping for as they head into the post season. Cole finishes the season 7-3 2.84.
Zach Britton and Adam Ottavino each pitched a shutout inning in relief.
Etcetera
With 5 games left the Yanks are 32-23, still 1.5 behind Minnesota for 4th place in the playoff race and home field advantage in the first round. Yanks are also still only 1 game ahead of Cleveland for the 5th spot.
DJ LeMahieu is now at .356; Tim Anderson is at .353. With so few games played, the batting averages can change by a lot each game — unlike a normal batting average race where the batting average does not change drastically after 500+ at bats.
Luke Voit still leads the AL in homers with 21; Jose Abreu of the White Sox has 19.
Be the first to comment