YANKEES TAKE 2 OF 3 FROM MARINERS, CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT

Tuesday night Luis Gil pitched against Bryan Woo and earned his 14th win of the season. Gil pitched 5 innings, gave up 1 run and struck out 5. Woo pitched 4 2/3 innings, gave up 7 runs and struck out 7. Marcus Stroman pitched innings 7-9 and earned his first save. The Yankees started off the game with Aaron Judge hitting a 2 run double in the first inning and a 2 run single in the second inning. Juan Soto hit a 2 run home run in the fourth inning, his 40th of the season and Jasson Dominguez hit a solo home run in the fifth inning. Soto has now hit a home run in every ballpark in the major leagues. Austin Wells hit a 3 run double in the sixth inning. The Yankees were now winning 10-1. Oswaldo Cabrera hit a RBI single in the ninth inning making the final score 11-2. The Mariners only runs were home runs by Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley.

Wednesday night was a pitching dual that went into an extra inning.  Nestor Cortes got the start against Bryce Miller. Cortes pitched six shut out innings giving up only 4 hits and struck out 6. Miller also pitched six innings but gave up 1 run and struck out 8. Anthony Rizzo hit a RBI single in the second inning and it wasn’t until the eighth inning that the Mariners tied the game with solo home run by Justin Turner. Rizzo hit a RBI double in the tenth inning to win the game for the Yankees. Final score 2-1. Luke Weaver earned the win and Ian Hamilton earned the save.

With this win the Yankees clinched a playoff spot and moved up to 5 games ahead of the Orioles.

Thursday night the Mariners won the game as they continue to fight for a playoff spot. Clarke Schmidt pitched against Logan Gilbert in another close game. Schmidt gave up 3 runs in five innings but only one was earned and struck out 7. Gilbert pitched 5 1/3 innings, gave up 2 runs and struck out 9. He reached 200 strikeouts. The Mariners went up 3-0 in the first inning. Justin Turner hit a RBI sacrifice fly but ended up on first due to a throwing error which loaded the bases. Jorge Polanco also hit a RBI sacrifice fly and J.P. Crawford hit a RBI single. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a 2 run home run in the third inning but the Yankees couldn’t get anything going after that. The Mariners won 3-2.

The Yankees dropped to a 4 game lead over the Orioles.

Juan Soto banged up his knee sliding into the outfield wall but stayed in the game and appears to be okay.

The Yankees head into the weekend with a 3 game series against the Oakland A’s.