NEW YORK — The Bombers are back. The Yankees’ lineup built around power bats is almost completely healthy and hitting like they are supposed to. The Bombers hit six home runs to beat the Blue Jays, 10-7, and complete the sweep of the crucial three-game series at Yankees Stadium.
The Yankees (29-21) have won eight straight, their longest winning streak since winning nine consecutive games from July 31 to Aug. 8, 2019. They pushed the Blue Jays (26-23) back to 2.5 games behind them in the American League East. They trailed the Rays by 3.5 games heading into the game.
Just over a week ago, the Yankees had fallen behind the Blue Jays in the hunt for the second playoff spot in the pandemic-expanded playoffs. They set a franchise record when their bullpen allowed 10 runs in an inning.
Thursday night, the Yankees were rewriting history with their bats.
In the fourth inning, the Bombers hit five home runs for the first time in franchise history. It started with Gardner’s one-out, two-run homer. DJ LeMahieu hit his fourth in three games, and Luke Voit hit his major league-leading 20th home run of the season. After another out, the Yankees went back-to-back again. Giancarlo Stanton hit his first since he went on the injured list Aug. 8 and his fourth of the season, with Gleyber Torres backing him up with his third of the season.
It was the fifth time in MLB history a team had hit five homers in an inning.
That chased the Blue Jays’ “featured” pitcher Chase Anderson and was the end of the seven-run inning. The home runs weren’t the only good offensive signs for the Yankees in that inning. Struggling catcher Gary Sanchez hit a hard RBI double to get the scoring started and then scored on Gardner’s homer.
Sanchez, who is now hitting .145, added his ninth home run of the season (with just 19 hits) in the seventh inning. It was his first multi-hit game of the season.
Also, Stanton went 4 for 5 with two RBIs and a strikeout.
In the three-game series against the Blue Jays, the Yankees hit 19 home runs and scored 43 runs. It was as dominating an offensive performance as they have had this season and it came at the right time, putting distance between themselves and the Blue Jays in the division and playoff picture.
“That’s just what this team’s capable of,” Judge said of the offensive explosion this series. “Up and down a lineup you got guys that can hit homers, guys that can drive people in. We work, we work pitches, we work in pitch counts up and we get deep into the bullpen.”
This was the kind of Yankees offense that people expected to see this season. With Stanton back in the lineup hitting cleanup for the second time since missing 32 games with a strained hamstring and Torres back after sitting out three games with a quad issue, the Yankees were almost whole.
After playing his first game back from the injured list on Wednesday, Aaron Judge had a scheduled night off Thursday. Watching for 21 games with a strained right calf, however, Judge sees the difference that a full, healthy Bombers lineup can make for the Yankees down the stretch.
“When we’re not at full strength, when you don’t have me, (Stanton) and Gleyber in there to kind of protect those guys and be in the middle of that order. Some teams can kind of find a way to pitch around and kind of be careful with DJ and be careful with Luke Voit at the top of the lineup,” Judge said. “And what I saw as (pitchers) weren’t going to give into Luke, even though he’s leading the league in homers and doing his best … They were kind of nibbling and trying to expand the zone on him a little bit.”
Thursday, Masahiro Tanaka continued to do what the Yankees’ pitchers have had to in order to save this season. The right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits over seven innings. He did not allow a walk and struck out five. Adam Ottavino, who contributed six earned runs to that 10-run inning disaster in Buffalo just over a week ago, pitched a one-hit scoreless eighth.
Jonathan Holder could not get out of the ninth, allowing four earned runs and forcing Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman to come in for a save. The Blue Jays got the tying run to the plate, but Chapman struck out Teoscar Hernandez on a 101-mile per hour fastball to complete the sweep.
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