Oswaldo SLAM, Gleyber 2 HR’s Power Yanks. NY 14 Pittsburgh 2

Gleyber Torres hits his 2nd homer of the 8th inning -- his 23rd of the season -- for a 14-2 Yankee lead.

Oswaldo Cabrera hit a Grand Slam in the 1st inning, and Gleyber Torres hit 2 (two) homeruns in an 8-run 8th inning to lead the Yankees to the an easy 14-1 rout of Pittsburgh at Yankee Stadium.

Aaron Judge did not hit his 61st homerun — he hit 2 doubles; and the crowd at Yankee Stadium groaned each time. He led off the 1st with a double and scored on Oswaldo’s Slam, and doubled in the 5th to ignite a 2-run rally that made it 6-1 NY. He was pitched around for a walk in the 9th — and the crowd booed.

Asked if he heard the fans groaning after his doubles, Judge answered: “Fans packed it out to see us win a ballgame and hit some homers. So I think I’ll cut out this doubles stuff I guess.”

Judge finished 2-4 on the night with a walk. Xander Bogaerts was 2-4 in his game; Luis Arraez was not in the lineup for Minnesota. The AL batting race looks like this:

  1. Aaron Judge .317
  2. Xander Bogaerts .317
  3. Luis Arraez .314
  4. Jose Abreu .308
  5. Lowe .306

Luis Severino started for the first time since early August — and pitched well: 5 sterling innings — 2 hits, 1 run and 6 strikeouts.

“That was really a good feeling,” said Oswaldo Cabrera afterwards. “Running around the bases in the 1st inning, the game is 4-0. That was so good.”

On a Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium — 75 degrees and beautiful.

The Philadelphia Phillies rallied late to beat Toronto in extra innings, meaning the Yankee lead in the division goes back to 6.5 games over Toronto, 8.5 over Tampa, and 13 over Baltimore. The Yanks are now 90-58.

1. Oswaldo Slam Sets the Tone

Aaron Judge on fire — led off the game by ripping a double to left — and the crowd groaned. Funny. Pittsburgh starter Roansy Contreras then struck out Anthony Rizzo, walked Gleyber Torres, struck out Josh Donaldson, walked Giancarlo Stanton, and Oswaldo Cabrera hit a Grand Slam to right: NY 4 Pittsburgh 0.

Contreras kept striking people out. He struck out Harrison Bader to end the 2nd, then struck out Jose Trevino, Judge and Rizzo to end the 2nd after a leadoff double by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. After 2 innings, Contreras had struck out 6 batters– and trailed 4-0.

John Sterling on the radio:

“Isn’t that something.”

“That’s baseball.”

“Suzyn.”

Sterling added the “Suzyn” after a pause — funny.

2. Severino Terrific

Meanwhile Severino was the old Severino — mowing people down. He got a double play in the 1st to get out of a mild jam, then retired the side 1-2-3 in the 2nd and 3rd, striking out 2 each inning.

In the 4th he allowed consecutive 1-out singles and a sac fly for a run — and pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th, leaving with a 4-1 lead. He gets the win to go 6-3 3.36.

“I feel happy to be back on the team — to finally come back and help any way that I can,” said Severino afterwards. “I feel pretty good. The fastball was there; the velocity was there. I think the best two pitches that I threw were two base hits. So I feel pretty happy with myself.”

3. Judge Ignites a 2nd Rally

Aaron Judge ripped another double to left with 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, and the Yankee Stadium capacity crowd groaned again — there to see him hit his 61st homer and tie Roger Maris.

But there was this game to be won and the batting title race — and it was good news as Gleyber Torres singled in Judge and Josh Donaldson doubled home Gleyber for a 6-1 Yankee lead.

More good news: Gleyber is RED HOT — as Justin Shackel reported: “That’s a 10-game hitting streak for Gleyber Torres. Batting .372 (16-43) over that span.” And that was before his 2 homers in the 8th (below).

4. Yank Relievers Do the Job

Lucas Luetge pitched the 6th — and allowed a 2-out triple, walk, single for a run and 6-2 game (and there were more moans) but got the final out and then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th, striking out 2, and there were cheers.

Luetge hit the leadoff batter in the top of the 8th — still a 6-2 game and still on a bit of edge — but Ron Marinaccio came in and got groundout, strikeout, strikeout to end the inning.

5. Gleyber’s 2 (Two) Homers in 8-Run 8th

The Yanks removed all worries in the 8th when batted around to blow it open.

Gleyber Torres led off against former Yankee Miguel Yajure with a homer to opposite field right for a 7-2 lead.

Josh Donaldson walked, Stanton walked, and Oswaldo Cabrera doubled in a run to make it 8-2 and Yajure was yanked.

Eric Stout came in to pitch and Harrison Bader greeted him with a double to left for 2 more runs. Yankees 10 Pirates 2.

Jose Trevino doubled in Bader to make it 11-2. The long rally meant Aaron Judge got a 5th at bat — which he didn’t look like he was going to get since if NY won they would not be batting in the 9th.

Stout pitched around Judge — 4 straight balls outside the strike zone — and the crowd BOOED.

Stout struck out Rizzo for the 2nd out but Gleyber Torres — up for the 2nd time in the inning — hit his 2nd homer of the inning — this time pulling the ball 398-feet to left for a 14-2 lead.

6. Thank You Weissert

Greg Weissert pitched the 9th — staked to a 14-2 lead. He allowed a leadoff walk but got the other 3 batters — groundout, line out, groundout — for the old ballgame.

After the game he was optioned to the minor leagues as the Yanks are making room for Zach Britton.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401356431

 

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