Yankees win once-tight AL East race as Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole dominate Orioles

When the Yankees near Baltimore connected July 14, they did truthful with ovum connected their faces.

The squad had conscionable mislaid a 6-5 ballgame successful epic fashion, arsenic Anthony Volpe bobbled a regular grounder earlier Alex Verdugo faceplanted connected a flyball with a 99% drawback probability. The ninth-inning antiaircraft implosion spoiled what initially looked similar a comeback triumph and sent the Yankees into the All-Star interruption with a second-place grounds aft going 13-21 successful their past 34 games.

“That’s a killer, right? Let’s admit that. And it’s been a unsmooth respective weeks present for us,” Aaron Boone said aft that embarrassment handed the Orioles the part lead. But helium added that “it’s each close determination successful beforehand of us,” a communal refrain from the Yankees’ manager.

“We got the pen,” Boone continued. “We get to constitute this astonishing script.”

On Thursday, that pen turned to Sharpie, arsenic the Yankees locked up the American League East and avoided a expanse with a 10-1 triumph implicit the Orioles astatine Yankee Stadium.

Giancarlo Stanton enactment the Yankees connected the committee successful the second, moving into a Corbin Burnes slider for his 27^th homer of the year. Stanton didn’t halt there, though, arsenic the slugger drove successful 3 with a stadium-shaking treble successful the sixth aft Austin Wells drew a bases-loaded walk.

Anthony Rizzo capped the Yankees’ six-run sixth with a two-run single, and Aaron Judge mashed a two-run homer successful the seventh. The MVP frontrunner present leads the majors with 58 longballs and has gone heavy successful 5 consecutive games.

Verdugo made it an adjacent 10 runs for the Yankees, arsenic helium homered successful the eighth earlier Baltimore yet scored a tally successful the ninth.

Earlier, Gerrit Cole played the portion of stopper aft Baltimore won the archetypal 2 games of the series. The reigning Cy Young ne'er matched Burnes’ singular mistake, arsenic Cole didn’t let a deed until the 5th frame. He yet blanked the birds for 6.2 innings portion tallying 2 hits, 1 locomotion and 5 strikeouts successful his last commencement of the regular season.

Cole’s evening ended with a well-deserved ovation. With the Bronx faithful roaring for its ace, Cole responded with a extremity of his cap.

Much of the shot satellite expected Baltimore, young, talented and seemingly connected the emergence aft a 101-win 2023 campaign, to triumph the AL East for the 2nd consecutive season. However, injuries and a prolonged agelong of mediocre play doomed the O’s part rubric chances aft the Yankees endured their ain streak of midseason mediocrity.

Having defied the preseason predictions of galore aft missing the playoffs past year, the Yankees planned connected celebrating their part crown aft Thursday’s game. They already partied past week, arsenic the Bombers raged successful Seattle aft cementing their postseason return connected Sept. 18.

With 3 games near to spare successful the regular season, the Yankees present person a five-game pb implicit the Orioles. However, the Yankees person refused to underestimate a rival that won the play bid and gave them fits earlier successful the week.

It’s imaginable the Yankees volition look Baltimore again successful the American League Division Series pursuing a first-round bye, truthful the squad has avoided bulletin committee material.

“They’re 1 of the large teams successful the league,” Boone said earlier this week. “So you recognize however talented and susceptible their roster is. Anytime you spell up against them, you gotta perform. You gotta play well. They tin bushed you a batch of antithetic ways.”

The playoff representation is inactive acold from certain, though. For now, the pinstripers tin acceptable their sights connected the American League’s champion record. Ending the play with the AL’s apical people would warrant homefield vantage anterior to the World Series.

The Yankees presently pb the AL with a 93-66 (.585) record. The Guardians, 92-67 (.579) and disconnected connected Thursday, are adjacent successful line. The Yankees clasp a one-game pb and the tiebreaker implicit Cleveland.

The AL’s champion grounds is determination for the taking, but the Yankees besides program connected resting immoderate players implicit the past fewer games of the regular play with the part contention present over.

“You gotta instrumentality each individual, measure and measure wherever they are, and onslaught that equilibrium betwixt large representation and the day,” Boone said. “Which, connected immoderate level, you’re doing each year. This clip of year, obviously, with what’s astatine stake, there’s a small much of a airy connected that.”