With Tuesday’s 6-4 win over the AL East-leading Red Sox, and Toronto’s 5-1 win over Baltimore, the Yankees are not dead yet.
Boston nearly broke through multiple times, and even tied the game in the seventh. But ultimately, thanks to Tyler Austin’s short porch home run, the Yankees proved too much this night and Boston’s plans to celebrate an AL East title will have to wait another day.
Luis Cessa started the game for the Yankees and pitched well, allowing two runs in six innings, both of which came in the sixth inning as he was tiring and seemed to be dealing with some sort of back issues. After Cessa grabbed at his back early in the inning Joe Girardi tried to come out from the dugout, but Cessa waved him off. Cessa got through the inning and finished the night with 84 pitches, one walk and two strikeouts.
Things got a little dicey in the ninth as David Ortiz (who else?) came to bat as the winning run with two outs. Facing Tyler Clippard, not Dellin Betances, Ortiz struck out swinging.
THE PLAY: ORTIZ NEEDS A BIGGER DOMINICAN LUNCH (-.073 WPA for Boston)
The #narrative almost overtook the day, as David Ortiz could have won Tuesday’s game in dramatic fashion. On the full count pitch with the runners going, Ortiz took a hearty cut at the changeup, but it dove out of his reach to the right and the Yankees walked off victorious.
TOP PERFORMERS
Red Sox — Xander Bogaerts: 3-for-5, 2B
Yankees — Tyler Austin: 3-for-3, go-ahead HR, 1 R, 2 RBI
NOTES
— Gary Sanchez hit a home run. Ho hum. #ElGary has now mashed 20 home runs in his first 51 career games, which ties him with Wally Berger of 1930 Boston Braves fame as the fastest player to reach 20 home runs in MLB history. A reminder: he his his first homer on Aug. 10. It is Sept. 27. He has hit 20 home runs. Unreal.
— David Ortiz was 0-for-5 on the night, his third-to-last at Yankee Stadium as he wraps up his farewell tour. His last three at-bats, which all came with two runners on base, were among the lowest four plays of the game in terms of WPA. In layman’s terms, basically Ortiz cost the Red Sox the game.
— It was another roller coaster evening for Yankees middle relievers. At first, Tommy Layne came in for Cessa in the seventh and gave up the tying runs. It seemed like everything would continue to go south from there, but Blake Parker got Oritz to ground out softly. Richard Bleier came in for a perfect two-thirds of an inning and Clippard handled the ninth, shutting the door.
THE HIGHLIGHT: A FAILED, THEN SUCCESSFUL, PROPOSAL
During the middle of the fifth inning, a fan attempted to pop the question on the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium. But there was just one problem — he couldn’t find the ring! The situation left the man in tears. “I thought it was going to be a simple kneel-down and pop it open,” he told YES Network. Fortunately for the couple, the ring was found a little bit later, and they are now happily engaged.
UP NEXT
The Yankees continue their final series with Boston, with Clay Buchholz (8-10, 5.00 ERA) leading the charge for a clinch (again). New York will counter with Bryan Mitchell (1-2, 4.50 ERA) who is making just his fifth start of the season.
Photo: Adam Hunger/USA Today Sports