By Ethan Semendinger
September 27th, 2024
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In a game that may have determined the AL East, the Orioles and Yankees went head-to-head with their ace pitchers. The Yankees won 10-1!
Quick Stats -
Winning Pitcher: Gerrit Cole (8-5, 3.41 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Corbin Burnes (15-9, 2.92 ERA)
Save: N/A
Home Runs (Baltimore): None
Home Runs (New York): Giancarlo Stanton (27), Aaron Judge (58), Alex Verdugo (13)
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Big Story - Going into this three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees needed to get just one win in order to secure the top spot of the American League East.
Since then, the Yankees dropped the first two games, while salvaging bad games with some late (and ultimately meaningless) runs.
Last night the Yankees needed to correct. The playoffs are right around the corner and the team needs to go into it feeling hot.
After Tuesday and Wednesday, skeptics started talking.
On Thursday, the Yankees wanted to quiet the haters. This was the line-up to do so:
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Player(s) of the Game -
Gerrit Cole: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's, AL EAST CLINCHING WIN!
Giancarlo Stanton: 2-4, 2 Runs, Double, Home Run, 4 RBI's, 2 K's
Notable Performances -
Aaron Judge: 1-2, 2 Runs, Home Run, 2 RBI's, 2 BB's, 1 K
Anthony Rizzo: 2-4, 2 RBI's, 1 K
Austin Wells: 0-3, Run, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Alex Verdugo: 1-1, Run, Home Run, RBI
Tommy Kahnle: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Clay Holmes: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Better to Forget -
Anthony Volpe: 0-4, 2 K's
Gleyber Torres: 0-4, Run, BB, 3 K's
Jasson Dominguez: 0-2, Run, BB, 2 K's
Tim Hill: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K
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The Game - It was a pitchers duel early and often through the first half of the game as both the Orioles and Yankees starters- Corbin Burnes and Gerrit Cole, respectively- came prepared last night.
Through the first three innings of the game for Gerrit Cole, featured just 2 strikeouts, but only one blemish: coming from a 2-out walk in the 3rd inning by James McCann.
Meanwhile, Corbin Burnes recorded 7 strikeouts (of 9 total outs!) and was only hit against 2 times. However, these hits pushed across a run from a Giancarlo Stanton solo home run, and also featured a Jazz Chisholm single.
For Gerrit Cole, his trend would continue for his next three innings (4, 5, and 6), allowing just two more blemishes: a 5th inning single from Ramon Urias and a 6th inning single from James McCann, while recording 2 more strikeouts.
And for Corbin Burnes, he would see success through the 5th inning, allowing just a walk to Aaron Judge in the 4th. However, his night was ended ahead of the 6th inning, when the Orioles brought in Yennier Cano.
After an Anthony Volpe strikeout, Gleyber Torres walked, Juan Soto singled, and then Aaron Judge walked the bases-loaded, which ended Cano's night for Cionel Perez...who immediately walked Austin Wells (2-0, Yankees), allowed a 3-RBI double to Giancarlo Stanton (5-0, Yankees), and then got a Jazz Chisholm groundout.
With 2-outs in the 6th, Bryan Baker came in, who walked Jasson Dominguez, allowed a 2-RBI single to Anthony Rizzo (7-0, Yankees), and finished the inning with another Volpe strikeout.
Gerrit Cole's day would ended after getting back-to-back outs in the 7th, before the likes of Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes worked through the Orioles line-up to finish the 7th and 8th innings without problem.
Meanwhile, the Yankees added another run in the 7th via an Aaron Judge 2-run home run (his 58th of the season and 5th in 5 straight games!) and the 8th via an Alex Verdugo home run.
In the 9th, Tim Hill was brought in for relief, allowed 3 straight 1-out singles, worked a sacrifice fly (10-1, Yankees), and then finished the game with a Cedric Mullins groundout.
THE YANKEES WIN!
THE YANKEES CLINCH THE AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST!
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I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed on a high note after this victory. This is just the 3rd time in the last 10 years (technically 12 years) that the Yankees have won the AL East.
Both other times, the Yankees made it to the ALCS, but were beaten by the Houston Astros (in 2019 and 2022).
But, enough about that.
Here are some fun facts:
The Yankees magic number to get the Number 1 seed in the American League is down to 2.
Judge and Stanton homered in the same game for the 14th time this season (tying a NYY record with Maris and Mantle in 1961)
Gerrit Cole looked like an ACE again, and against a team the Yankees could see again in the playoffs
(I said this earlier, but it bears repeating) Aaron Judge is on another home run streak with 5 home runs in 5 straight games, moving him up to 58. The big 60 IS IN REACH AGAIN!
THE YANKEES WON THE AL EAST AGAIN!
GOOD night everybody!
and GOOD morning!
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Next Up - Tonight, the AL EAST WINNING NEW YORK YANKEES (93-66) start their last series of the 2024 regular season, at home, against the Pittsburgh Pirates (74-85). Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.98 ERA) will take the mound for the Yankees as the Pirates send Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14 ERA) to start. The game will begin at 7:05 PM and be broadcast on YES.
I hope the Yankees sweep the Pirates because, well, I always root for the Yankees to win. But I'm unconcerned about whether the Yankees go into the post-season on a high note or low. As someone, I can't remember who, once said, in baseball momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.
I'm also unconcerned about what the Yankees' record was for the first X games or the last X games (for arbitrary values of X) of the regular season When the post-season starts every team participating will have a record of 0-0. It's a new day, a new season and the past is the past.
If Judge gets to 60 HRs (and imagine how many he would have hit if…
the one thing about this game that must be remembered is that Corbin Burnes pitched extremely well
and it did not matter one bit.
Gerrit Cole was determined
I love seeing the Yankees celebrate, especially when they win their Division, or they make it to the ALCS, or they make it to the World Series, or they win the World Series. But if I were them, I would prefer the team celebrated by the Yankees taking the entire team out to a fancy New York City restaurant after the deciding game, and served them all a nice Filet Mignon dinner along with champaign in refillable champaign glasses. To me, that would be a lot more enjoyable way to celebrate then spraying it all over the room and all over each other (burning each other's eyes), not to mention pouring so much of it all over the floor …
I saw something interesting as I was looking at all the photos of the game. This photo was taken after Austin Wells scored the 3rd of the 3 runs that Giancarlo Stanton doubled home. I see that Austin Wells wears an armband when he plays with the pitch sequence of the pitcher he is catching. As you can see in this photo, on Wells's armband is a blue computer screen, and at the top of the screen, it says "Cole" and then it has the pitch sequence that Cole planned to throw to the last hitter he faced. Great technology. (CLICK ON TOP RIGHT CORNER OF PHOTO)
I wish I had seen this game.
My baseball team won on a 9th inning homer. We had excitement of our own, but I missed seeing this great game.
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Now comes the big steps...
Winning the division is great.
Now they need to win the Number One Seed and then win each playoff series they're in.
It's time.