Just when the champagne was starting to get a little too chilly, the Yankees finally were able
to pop some bottles as big-time games from Aaron Judge, who hit a home run in his fifth-straight game for No. 58 of the season, Giancarlo Stanton, who drove in four, and Gerrit Cole, whose 6.2 innings of shutout baseball led the Yankees to a dominant 10-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, clinching their second AL East title in three years.
“It means a lot,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “You go into spring training
wanting to go to the playoffs. We checked that box, then you want to win your division if you
can, it’s the American League East, we know what kind of a gauntlet that is every year. We
know it’s going to test you.”
It was a battle of aces Thursday Night, as Cole and Orioles starter Corbin Burnes combined to retire the first 10 batters of the game before Stanton connected on his 27th home run of the season into the left-field seats, giving the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.
Outside of that one hit, pitching reigned supreme through the first four innings, as Burnes allowed only two hits and struck out eight, while Cole allowed no hits and retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced.
The fifth inning marked the final for Burnes, who, with the playoffs in mind, was pulled after five innings, in which he struck out nine and allowed only one run on two hits.
The pitching duel ended in the bottom of the sixth when Yannier Cano came into relieve Burnes. After striking out Volpe, the first batter he faced, Cano allowed three straight batters to reach. He was then replaced by Cionel Perez, who immediately walked Austin Wells with the bases loaded, giving the Yankees their second run of the game. One batter later, Stanton once again sent the Yankee Stadium crowd into a frenzy, clearing the bases with a double off the wall of the Yankees bullpen.
“He’s talented and very mentally tough,” Boone said. “He’s very meticulous in how he
prepares, he’s not affected by a bad at-bat and the noise around it.”
The scoring wasn’t done for the Yankees, as after Jazz Chisholm grounded out to third
and Jasson Dominguez walked and stole second, Anthony Rizzo drove both of them in with a double into the right-field corner, giving the Yankees a seven-run lead. A pair of Volpe strikeouts ended up bookending the bottom of the sixth, ending an inning where the Yankees scored six runs.
Cole’s stellar night ended after 101 pitches and 6.2 shutout innings, striking out five and only allowing a pair of hits.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Yankees tacked on two more. Following an error that allowed Juan Soto to reach, Judge connected on his 58th home run of the year, which gave the Yankees a 9-0 cushion. Alex Verdugo, who replaced Dominguez as a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh, added another run for good measure, making the score 10-0 on his 13th homer of the season.
The Orioles would add a run in the ninth to prevent a Yankee shutout, but Tim Hill would put the finishing touches on a 10-1 victory and an American League East title.
