Scoreboard watching to see how the Toronto Blue Jays are doing is a way of life for the New York Yankees in their late pursuit of the American League East title.
On Saturday, the Yankees will continue their chase of the division crown when they host the Baltimore Orioles, but finding out what the Blue Jays do may take a while.
The Yankees (92-68) will begin a fourth straight day tied with the Blue Jays after opening the series with Friday’s 8-4 victory. New York is 9-1 in its past 10 games and on a six-game winning streak — one shy of its season high — after Giancarlo Stanton homered twice and Aaron Judge went deep.
Stanton homered twice for the second time this year and tied his season high with five RBIs. Stanton hit the tie-breaking double in the fifth inning of Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.
“The main thing is that we win,” New York rookie starter Will Warren said. “We talked about it before tonight, we take care of business and get these three games. We’ve done all that we could do. Everything else is out of our control.”
Including the postseason, the Yankees are 51-7 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game. The latest instance occurred as the Blue Jays were securing a 4-2 victory at home over the Tampa Bay Rays. On Saturday, the Yankees will start their penultimate game about two hours before Toronto faces Tampa Bay.
“I watch a lot,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I don’t discourage or encourage. To each their own and the reason I don’t is because I know we’re in a good place, like, as far as our focus and understanding the importance of the day and handling our business.
“That’s the main thing. Obviously, we have no control over anything other than what we do between the lines. Our guys are locked in, playing for a lot, focused, but with that said, I’m watching all the time.”
The Orioles are 4-7 against the Yankees and have lost six of the past seven meetings. In the series opener, Jordan Westburg hit a three-run homer to give the Orioles a brief lead, and Tyler O’Neill added a solo shot, but Trevor Rogers allowed three homers and lasted three innings after yielding only one hit over six innings to the Yankees last week.
Westburg homered for the first time since Aug. 17, but the Orioles were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranded 10, struck out 13 times and left the bases loaded in the sixth after O’Neill’s lead-off homer.
“We just couldn’t get the big hit,” Baltimore interim manager Tony Mansolino said.
Cam Schlittler (3-3, 3.27 ERA), a candidate to be New York’s Game 3 starter in a postseason series, ends his rookie season. Schlittler is facing the Orioles for the second straight outing after allowing one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings before the Yankees scored six runs in the 10th inning of Sunday’s 7-1 win.
Schlittler has allowed three runs or less in 11 of 13 starts so far and the Yankees are 6-1 in his past seven starts.
Tomoyuki Sugano (10-9, 4.54) is tied for the lead among qualified AL rookies in wins, but is 0-4 with a 6.49 ERA in his past six starts since his last win on Aug. 14. Sugano allowed four runs on six hits, including Stanton’s 450th career homer, in a career-low three innings during last Saturday’s 6-1 loss in Baltimore.
Sugano is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
