Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton set the tone for the Yankees with playoff-caliber performances and Aaron Judge added his MLB-leading 58th home run as New York clinched the AL East in Thursday’s 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Takeaways
1. Cole is in playoff mode. The Yankees needed their ace to deliver, and they got a vintage performance from him. In 6.2 scoreless IP, Cole (8-5, 3.41) allowed two hits while striking out five and walking one on 101 pitches (64 strikes).
Thursday’s start follows last Friday’s complete game at the Oakland A’s, when he yielded one run on two hits while fanning seven and issuing one free pass. Cole’s Sept. 14 outing against the Boston Red Sox, headlined by a season-worst seven runs allowed and three hit batters, created cause for concern. He has since responded with authority and proven that his A’s gem was no fluke.
Next stop: Game 1 of the ALDS, potentially against the Orioles.
2. Is Stanton heating up at the right time? New York certainly hopes so after the slugger stepped up with a second-inning solo home run, his 27th long ball of the year, to give Cole and the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Four frames later, Stanton’s bases-clearing double buried the Orioles as New York’s 5-0 lead widened. In an offense where Judge and Juan Soto have done so much of the heavy lifting, Stanton is a potential X-factor for the Yankees entering October.
3. Judge’s fifth straight game with a home run came with the Yankees leading 7-0, but the AL MVP frontrunner clearly is not letting up. His MLB-leading 144th RBI padded New York’s blowout and sent a no-mercy message to Baltimore with the postseason looming.
4. The Yankees went 5-8 against the Orioles in 2024, salvaging one game out of three for the season’s series finale. After New York’s ninth-inning comeback fell short in Wednesday’s 9-7 loss, the momentum clearly spilled over into Thursday. Will the trend continue in a possible ALDS rematch?
Who’s the MVP?
Stanton, who gave the Yankees the lead and put the game away en route to four RBI.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees (93-66) close their regular season with a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates (74-85).
New York southpaw Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.98 ERA) and Pittsburgh right-hander Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14 ERA) are set to start Tuesday’s 7:05 p.m. opener.
