Yankees Finish Gauntlet With Series Win in Boston

The Yankees finished off their two-week, 12-game stretch against four teams that will be making the playoffs by winning a series at Fenway Park, but they still sit just 1.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the race for the No. 1 wildcard spot which would give them homefield advantage in that series. Lets get to it.

Let’s be honest here, like we always are at Pinstripe People. If I had told you the Yankees would have gone 7-5 in what has been widely referred to as “The Gauntlet” over the past two weeks, you would have signed up for that in a nanosecond.

The way the Yankees had been scuffling along for the better part of three months, it felt like a big ask to win more games than they lost against the Astros, Blue Jays, Tigers and Red Sox, four teams that are almost certainly going to be joining the Yankees in the postseason.

Going into this critical stretch they were 7-19 against those teams, having lost six of the seven series including one sweep each at the hands of Boston and Toronto. Now they’re 14-24 which is still pretty shitty. The Yankees have earned a reputation as a team that can bully the bums - they’re 39-19 against the 12 teams who currently sit fourth and fifth in the respective divisions - but then wimp out and turtle when they are challenged by another bully.

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But Aaron Boone, who told us ad nauseum that he knew this was in his team and that it was “all right in front of us” contrary to all the evidence that it certainly was not, has been proven right. At least for now.

You can count me as someone who is still skeptical about what this team can ultimately become because we’ve seen the Yankees go on nice little runs like this in the past, and then it’s followed by stretches where you wonder how any of them ever made it to the major leagues.

Jazz Chisholm - who depending on the day is either a spectacular player or one of the most maddeningly stupid players in MLB - is certainly consistent in his dealings with the media. The guy is a character and he loves popping off with reporters before and after games which is fine by me because as a sports writer, I love guys like that who don’t just mumble a bunch of worthless, soulless cliches when they speak to the media. However, you also have to consider the source sometimes with Chisholm.

Saturday, after the Yankees had won the first two games at Fenway Park and clinched the series, during which he gave us the full spectrum of his wonder - he was 5-for-9 with a homer, three RBI and two stolen bases but also got thrown out twice on the bases and made another throwing error - Chisholm was feeling his oats in the clubhouse.

When asked what kind of statement the Yankees made in the first two games, he said, “That we’re the best team in the league. I feel like any team that thinks they’re better than us, they should know when we step on the field that we’re coming with relentlessness. We’re coming to step on necks. We’re not here to play around. We’re going to do the job and get the job done.”

Maybe a tap on the brakes is needed here, Jazz. We’ll see about that in these last two weeks as they try to lock down the top wildcard spot - folks, they’re not catching the ever-annoying Blue Jays - but more importantly, we’ll see in October.

The Yankees certainly have the starting pitching to make a deep run. Since Sept. 2 when “The Gauntlet” began with Max Fried shutting down the Astros through Saturday before Will Warren got clobbered Sunday night, New York had a starting pitcher ERA of 2.76 which was second-best in MLB behind only the Guardians’ 2.31. Thanks to Warren, now it’s seventh at 3.36.

Fried and Carlos Rodon are a solid, seemingly reliable 1-2 punch, and then Boone might actually have a tough decision to make on the next two - you only need three starters for the first two rounds and then four for the ALCS and World Series - as Luis Gil, Cam Schlittler and Warren have all pitched well, though Warren may have knocked himself out of contention.

“Probably as much as anything, (the rotation) has helped fuel us through this last month where we’ve kind of got it turned around a little bit,” Boone said. “It starts with the starting pitchers because, you know, if they’re routinely giving you quality outings into the fifth and sixth and even the seventh, whatever it may be, now all of a sudden you’re in better position to close out games. The pen’s able to protect one another, you’re not overextending guys. Love seeing it. We’ve got to keep doing it.”

However, unless the starters can pitch eight innings and turn a lead over to David Bednar in the ninth (which we know is not happening, ever), no game will ever be safe with this Yankees bullpen. It was certainly better in Boston, but thus far in September it has a collective 7.62 ERA, better only than the lowly Twins who the Yankees will visit this week. And dating back to the Aug. 1 trade deadline when they supposedly may key upgrades, the ERA is 5.32, better only than the Twins and Rockies.

And while the season numbers for the offense are tremendous as the Yankees lead MLB with 774 runs, 254 home runs, 578 walks and an OPS of .784, there has been a downturn in September while they’ve been playing these postseason-worthy opponents.

Since September began, in these games against the four soon-to-be playoff teams, the Yankees’ 21 home runs are tied for second, but they are striking out 27.8% of the time which is fourth-worst, their .308 on-base percentage is 19th, their .743 OPS is 11th, and their 55 runs scored is 20th.

They are going to be playing lower scoring games in October, and I still wonder what happens when they don’t hit home runs? Can this team manufacture enough runs, particularly with their bullpen capable of lighting any lead on fire and blowing it up?

“We’ve said it all year long that we’ve been playing to everybody else’s level instead of our own level,” said Chisholm. “We’ve been letting games go. We’ve been losing games ourselves, making errors, having poor at-bats and stuff like that. At the end of the day, we finally looked ourselves in the mirror and realized we’re the team to beat. That’s how we’ve been stepping on the field for the last two weeks.”

I know Jazz isn’t worried, but I am, and I’m guessing you are as well.

Sept. 12: Yankees 4, Red Sox 1

➤ Luis Gil wasn’t exactly spotless, nor were the Yankees behind him, but when it was all said and done, Gil grinded through six no-hit innings and that was the key to the victory in the opener. He walked four and thanks to two errors, two wild pitches and a ridiculous balk it felt like he was always on the brink of disaster, but it was quite a performance to escape each jam, especially in that wacky fifth.

➤ The Yankees were up 2-0 thanks to an Aaron Judge 468-foot moon shot that flew over the Green Monster and right out of Fenway in the first inning, and a fine two-out rally in the third that featured a Judge walk, a catchers’ interference which wiped out a third-out pop up by Ben Rice, and Cody Bellinger’s clutch RBI single.

➤ But in the fifth, that lead was in peril. Gil walked the first two men, the second after he’d thrown a wild pitch. After a pop out, the Red Sox called a double steal and Gil got so rattled that he balked so they had men on second and third. Here, he struck out Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran lined out to Giancarlo Stanton who thankfully didn’t have to move. Gil started the sixth with a walk and a Chisholm throwing error killed a double play chance, but then Gil finished his night with a strikeout and groundout.

➤ The Yankees tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh as starting shortstop Jose Caballaro - has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? - doubled, stole third and was lucky to score on the ol’ contact play thanks to a poor throw by second baseman David Hamilton on a grounder by Ryan McMahon. McMahon later scored on Rice’s RBI single that made it 4-0.

➤ Boone yanked Gil at 93 pitches and you all probably figured the worse, right? Pulling the kid with a no-hitter to turn it over to this bullpen seemed insane. Sure enough, Fernando Cruz immediately gave up a solo homer to someone named Nate Eaton, his first of the year, but he whiffed Duran to end the inning, and then Devin Williams and David Bednar closed it out pretty effortlessly.

➤ Judge’s HR was No. 362 which moved him past Joe DiMaggio into fourth place on the Yankees all-time list behind Babe Ruth (659), Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493).

➤ This win also clinched the Yankees’ 33rd consecutive winning season, the second-longest streak in the four major sports, trailing only the Yankees’ 39 straight from 1926-64.

What they said in Friday’s clubhouse

• Judge on starting quickly: “Especially any time you come into Fenway Park, it’s going to be an electric atmosphere. For us getting a run there in the first and then grabbing the second one in the third, kind of put the crowd out of it a little bit was big-time. Let Luis Gil calm down, let him go to work with a nice little lead. You got to come in here, swing the bat and do it early. If they get a little momentum, then it’s game over.”

• Boone on Gil: “He’s a little unpredictable, even for us sometimes. Tonight was the best he’s looked (this year).”

• Rice on Judge: “It’s amazing. You kind of catch yourself taking it for granted every now and then what he’s doing, but then those milestones come along and you’re able to really appreciate it.”

Sept. 13: Yankees 5, Red Sox 3

➤ With Garrett Crochet pitching Sunday night, this felt like a huge game to get because it wrapped up a series win - their first this season against Boston - and guaranteed that the Yankees would be leaving Boston still locked into the first wildcard spot.

➤ Once again the Yankees started well and opened a 4-0 lead for the second straight night. But this one got much scarier as the Red Sox chipped away and were within 4-3 going to the ninth. But then Judge and Bellinger delivered back-to-back two-out hits off Aroldis Chapman to produce a breathing room run for Bednar that just made things feel so much calmer.

➤ Max Fried was the beneficiary of the Yankees good start. They scored twice in the first as Trent Grisham got hit by a Brayan Bello pitch, Rice doubled and Judge walked to load the bases with no outs. Bellinger then hit a sac fly to produce the Yankees’ first run off Bello this year, and Chisholm lucked out with a nubber between the mound and third base that went for an RBI single. In the third, Judge walked, Bellinger singled him to third, and Chisholm singled him home. And in the fifth, Chisholm homered to make it 4-0.

➤ Fried started slow as two men reached in the first before he escaped, and then in the second, the Red Sox did a fine impression of the Yankees on the bases. Eaton led off with a walk but he was thrown out trying to go to third on Nick Sogard’s single to left fielder Jasson Dominguez. Just a brutal baserunning mistake. Connor Wong then doubled so it was second and third with one out before Fried whiffed Rafaela and Romy Gonzalez. He settled down over the next two innings, but Alex Bregman hit one of those ridiculous Pesky Pole homers in the fifth on a 1-2 mistake and then Fried gave up three straight singles in the sixth for another run that made it 4-2.

➤ Boone lifted him there and Luke Weaver left men on first and second by looking like 2024 Weaver and whiffing Rafaela and Gonzalez. Williams pitched a rare 1-2-3 seventh, but then Cruz made it very uncomfortable as he woke up Fenway by serving up a one-out solo homer to Duran that made it 4-3. However, he retired the next two men.

➤ In the ninth, the Red Sox brought Chapman into a game they were losing for the first time all season. And thankfully, Chapman reverted to his Yankee days when he gave us agita every night. He got the first two outs but Judge ripped a single and took second on a wild pitch which proved humongous. That’s because Bellinger worked a great nine-pitch at bat which ended with his double off the Green Monster to chase home Judge. Huge, huge hit because it gave Bednar that extra cushion, not that he needed it as he mowed down the Sox 1-2-3 on seven pitches in the ninth. How nice is it to have a closer who can usually close games without drama?

➤ This win put the Yankees 18 games over .500 for the first time, and it would have pulled them within two games of first place. Instead, the god damn Blue Jays, who have a horseshoe shoved so far up their ass you can’t even find it, scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Orioles 5-4. Unbelievable how god damn lucky that team has been all season. The Yankees still have seven games left with Baltimore and we can only hope the Orioles are as generous to them as they’ve been to the Blue Jays in the first two games of that series.

What they said in Saturday’s clubhouse

• Weaver: “That was a playoff atmosphere right there. That’s a huge matchup, huge game, a lot on the line.”

• Fried: “Baseball at this time of year, it’s all intense. Every game we go out there, we feel like we need to go out there and win it. Knowing we’re both tight in the standings, don’t have many opportunities to go out there and start, just wanted to make sure I left it all out there.”

Sept. 14: Red Sox 6, Yankees 4

➤ Yeah, the Red Sox were due for a breakout after two frustrating nights in their own ballpark where they usually score a ton of runs. They eviscerated Warren in the first inning as they scored six times on six hits. They hit for the cycle as a team as Duran led off with a triple and scored on a Bregman single. Two more singles made it 2-0, then Gonzalez doubled home a run to make it 3-0. Two outs scored the next two, and Carlos Narvaez completed the single-inning cycle with a homer to dead center.

➤ However, despite finishing with 12 hits, they never scored again and that allowed the Yankees to make it a game. To his credit, Warren settled in and avoided killing the bullpen as he finished with four scoreless innings, and then shockingly, Camilo Doval went 1-2-3 in the sixth, Mark Leiter handled the seventh and Paul Blackburn the eighth.

➤ After getting blown away by Crochet in the first three innings, the Yankees got to him in the fourth as Stanton singled and Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer, and in the fifth Judge crushed his 48th homer to make it 6-3. Crochet then worked an easy sixth and ended his night with 12 strikeouts. I really hate the Red Sox have this machine locked up for the next several years.

➤ Steven Matz took over in the seventh and Caballaro crushed a solo homer to make it 6-4, and then Judge led off the eighth with a single off the Green Monster against Garrett Whitlock, only to see Whitlock strike out Bellinger, Stanton and Grisham.

➤ Caballaro kept the Yankees close by saving a run with a diving play at short and a great throw to end the eighth, but Chapman got back into the groove he’s been in all season and wiped out the Yankees in the ninth to end it.

➤ Caballero played all three games at short and he has hit .314 with a .955 OPS in his last 16 starts. Anthony Volpe should not leave the bench the rest of the season.

What they said in Sunday’s clubhouse

• Warren on his performance: “I think it’s just baseball sometimes, as much as it sucks, because tonight felt like a big one - we needed to get the sweep there.”

• Caballaro: “I think it’s a good stretch for us, especially facing four good teams in a row. It has a lot to say about this team. We’re ready for playoffs. I’m just trying to help the team win. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I do. It’s what the team does and as long as we keep winning games, I’m going to be really happy.”

The Yankees are in Minnesota for three games to play the last-place Twins who gave up on their season when they blew up their roster at the trade deadline. Since then, they are 14-27 and at 65-84, they are the second-worst team in the American League ahead of only their fellow bum in the AL Central, the White Sox.

Here are some of the Twins top players to watch:

➤ CF Byron Buxton: Without a doubt the Twins’ best player who leads them with 31 homers, 76 RBI, an .888 OPS and 22 stolen bases while playing elite defense.

➤ 3B Royce Lewis: Often injured, he has stayed healthy recently but has played in only 93 games and is hitting .237 with a .289 on-base which just isn’t good enough for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft.

➤ DH Trevor Larnach: He is second on the team with 58 RBI and has 21 doubles and 16 homers.

➤ 2B Luke Keaschall: The rookie has played in 42 games and he’s hitting .314 with a .399 on-base and .858 OPS.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Monday, 7:40, YES: Carlos Rodon (3.11 ERA) vs. Simeon Woods-Richardson (4.58) who struggles with walks which is why his WHIP is an ugly 1.389.

• Tuesday, 7:40, YES: Cam Schlittler (3.05) vs. Zebby Matthews (5.06) who gave up three solo homers to the Yankees in an Aug. 11 loss.

• Wednesday, 7:40, Amazon Prime: Luis Gil (2.83) vs. Taj Bradley (4.88) who came from the Rays at the trade deadline and has a 6.33 ERA in four starts for the Twins.