 had five outings in which he gave up seven or eight runs but also had eight in which he allowed one run or none. He finished with a 4.74 ERA and yielded 35 homers - 10 more than his previous major league high.''I knew that I needed to be aggressive,'' he said. ''Maybe I was lacking it a little bit.'' Already assured no worse than hosting a wild-card game against Minnesota, New York began the day three games behind AL East-leading Boston with three games left. The Yankees could take the division only by beating the Blue Jays both Saturday and Sunday, having Boston lose three in a row to Houston and then defeating the Red Sox in a tiebreaker game Monday at Yankee Stadium.New York ace Luis Severino could start against Boston or Minnesota.''He'll be prepared for either day,'' Girardi said.Tanaka retired his first 14 batters before Ezequiel Carerra reached on an infield single up the middle just past Tanaka's glove. Second baseman Starlin Castro made a backhand stop with a dive and threw off-balance from his knees, but Carerra easily beat a one-hop throw.Pitching on six days' rest, Tanaka dominated a team that battered him for eight runs and three homers at Toronto on Sept. 22. He allowed three hits and walked none.''You can't pick up that split,'' Toronto manager John Gibbons said. ''Boom! It just drops.'' Tanaka's strikeout total was three shy of his professional big league high, set for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan's Pacific League on Aug. 27, 2011.''His fastball had more life to it. His split was as good as I've seen it this year, and his slider was pretty good, as well,'' Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. ''It gives you a lot of confidence in him.'' David Robertson pitched a hitless eighth, and Dellin Betances was pulled after throwing just three of eight pitches for strikes. He allowed a hit and a walk.''I thought I would have stayed in there,'' Betances said. ''I have a short leash right now.'' Aroldis Chapman got three straight outs to complete the four-hitter for his 21st save in 25 chances, striking out two of three batters to raise the total for Yankees pitchers to 18.New York, which reached 90 wins for the first time since 2012, took a 2-0 lead in the first against Joe Biagini when Castro singled in a run with a dribbler between the mound and third , and Greg Bird hit a sacrifice fly. Bird added a run-scoring single off the right-field wall in the sixth and has eight homers and 25 RBIs in 27 games since returning in late August following ankle surgery.Aaron Judge singled in a run in the fifth for his 113th RBI. He had grimaced after landing on first awkwardly on a third-inning groundout.''We had some concern,'' Girardi said. ''It ended up being nothing.'' IN THE SEATSA crowd of 35,735 raised the Yankees' home season total to 3,070,801, topping last year's 3,034,346. The Yankees have two games remaining and will play only 79 home dates because of two doubleheaders caused by rainouts.BROADWAY BABYGibbons attended Thursday night's performance of ''Hamilton.'' Asked whether the cast acknowledged him, he laughed.''No, but I stood up and said, `Make America great again,''' he said.SWIPINGNew York stole four bases off catcher Raffy Lopez, who has caught only one of 17 base stealers this season.TRAINER'S ROOMBlue Jays: Toronto CF Kevin Pillar will miss the series because he returned home to be with his wife, who is due to give birth. ... RHP Aaron Sanchez (blisters) was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for RHP Taylor Cole, who was selected from Triple-A Buffalo.Yankees: RHP Adam Warren, who had not pitched for New York since Sept. 1 because of a back spasm, was activated from the 10-day DL.UP NEXTLHP Jaime Garcia (1-3) starts Saturday for the Yankees and RHP Marcus Stroman (13-8) for the Blue Jays.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Yankees try to keep division hopes alive against Jays 9h ago• 4 min read NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees are on the brink of being officially eliminated from the American League East race, but if they beat the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series Friday, they would prolong the wait.The Yankees are playing in the afternoon, so if they win, they would be 2 1/2 games behind for a few hours. About six hours after the scheduled first pitch at Yankee Stadium, the Boston Red Sox are slated to continue their four-game series with the Houston Astros.Since the Red Sox own a magic number of one, the only route to a New York division title is three more Yankees wins and three more Red Sox losses followed by a Yankees victory in a tiebreaker game.The potential tiebreaker contest would occur Monday at Yankee Stadium because New York won 11 of 19 in the season series.First, the Yankees must take care of things against the Blue Jays, who are 9-7 in the clubs' first 16 meetings. New York has dropped one series since getting swept by the Cleveland Indians from Aug. 28-30, and it occurred last weekend in Toronto, when the Yankees allowed 17 runs in two losses.The Yankees missed a chance to get within two games of first place for the first time since Aug. 3 when they allowed a seven-run fifth inning during a 9-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, wasting Aaron Judge's league-leading 51st homer."It's frustrating because we had a chance to pick up a game," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Now it's three (out) with three to go. There are a lot of things that can happen, but it's frustrating." Despite being nearly eliminated from the AL East race, the Yankees are 19-8 in their past 27 games and 11-2 in their past 13 home contests.Masahiro Tanaka (12-12, 4.94 ERA) looks to conclude his fourth season with the Yankees with a winning record. If he is charged with the loss, it would be the first time during an 11-year professional career Tanaka finished with a losing mark.Tanaka has allowed 35 homers, which is his career high for any season as a professional. He is the first Yankee to allow 35 homers since Phil Hughes in 2012. If he allows another homer, Tanaka would be the first Yankee to allow more than 35 since Ralph Terry set a team record by yielding 40 in 1962.Tanaka has allowed six homers to the Blue Jays. Last Friday in Toronto, he gave up three and was tagged for eight runs (seven earned) and six hits in 5 2/3 innings during an 8-1 loss."I just didn't have good command," Tanaka said through an interpreter. "I was able to locate some of my pitches, but the ones I wasn't able to, I felt like I really got hurt by them." The right-hander is 2-1 with a 5.48 ERA in four starts against Toronto this season and 8-4, 3.19 in 14 career outings against the Blue Jays.Toronto prolonged the race by taking the first two games in Boston before dropping a 10-7 decision Wednesday.The Blue Jays have won the last three series with the Yankees, and their success is continuing from recent seasons. Toronto is 34-20 in the past three years against the Yankees.Overall, the Blue Jays are 11-7 in their past 18 games, aided by hot streaks from Josh Donaldson and Teoscar Hernandez."A couple of weeks ago, you look at your schedule, when you know you're out of it, you're glad you're playing teams that are in it," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "Enthusiasm is a big deal." Donaldson went 8-for-13 in Boston and is 17-for-27 with eight home runs and 11 RBIs in his past six road games. He also is hitting .390 in his last 15 games overall.Hernandez has homered eight times this month, extending his team record for homers in the final month by a rookie. He also is up to 20 RBIs this month, another Toronto rookie record, and his six-game streak with at least one RBI is the longest by a Blue Jay this season.Beside seeing if Donaldson and Hernandez can remain hot and if the Blue Jays can beat the Yankees, this might be the final series for outfielder Jose Bautista with the team. Bautista returned on a one-year deal after reaching free agency in the offseason.He is hitting .204 with 23 homers and 64 RBIs in 154 games. His 288 homers and 790 runs are the second most in team history, and 36 of the homers came against the Yankees.Joe Biagini, Toronto's Friday starter, will look to finish an otherwise disappointing season on a strong note. He is 3-12 with a 5.34 ERA overall in 43 appearances, 2-11 with a 5.75 ERA in 17 starts.Biagini is 1-3 with a 3.26 ERA in nine career appearances (two starts) against the Yankees. He allowed three runs and three hits in five innings on Saturday in a 5-1 loss to New York at Toronto, serving up a two-run homer to Greg Bird.
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