Los New York Yankees they are the champions of the Eastern League Americanbut Aaron Judge has some unfinished business to attend to on Wednesday night against the host Toronto Blue Jays .
On Tuesday night, the Yankees claimed the American League East and a bye to the first round of the playoffs with a 5-2 win over the Blue Jayswhile Judge went 0-for-1 with four walks and two runs.
Judge continues with 60 home runs on the season as he reaches the rubber match of the three-game series. He is chasing the AL record of 61 set in 1961 by Roger Maris of New York.
It was the second time in his career that Judge walked four times. Each walk drew louder boos from Tuesday’s crowd of 40,528. He also walked four times against the Orioles in Baltimore on September 4, 2017.
Judge, who displayed magnificent discipline at the plate, didn’t seem to care.
“Not when you win,” he said. “I take four walks for a win every day”
Gleyber Torres went 3-for-5 with three RBIs for the Yankeestwice driving in Judge.
There was more good news for Yankees (95-59). They hope to have DJ LeMahieu (toe swelling) in the lineup possibly by Friday. The outfield player has been out since September 5.
“The last few days have been encouraging for him,” said the manager of Yankees, Aaron Boone, before Tuesday’s game. “So there’s a chance he could be in play (Wednesday). If not, maybe he could push a little bit more into Friday when we open (at home) against the Orioles. But we’re at that point of ‘Let’s get this going'”
Los Blue Jays (87-68) are still trying to get a playoff spot. They occupy the AL’s top wild-card spot, which carries home-field advantage during the first round of the playoffs. They have a one-and-a-half game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays (85-69) for the first wild card.
Los Blue Jays they will start right-hander Mitch White (1-6, 5.12 ERA) in the series finale. He has made an appearance in his career against New Yorkan August 20 outing in which he allowed one run on seven hits with five strikeouts in four innings.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole (12-7, 3.49 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Yankees. Cole is 5-2 with a 3.70 ERA in 11 career starts against Torontoincluding going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts this year.
The Blue Jays helped the Yankees with some baserunning errors on Tuesday. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. posed as if he thought he had hit a home run in the sixth inning. The ball didn’t go out of the park and went for an RBI single late in the inning when he was pulled while attempting a double. Interim manager John Schneider said he planned to talk to Guerrero about not running hard earlier in the play.
“We’re at the point where every little thing matters,” Schneider said. “Every 90 feet matters. It should matter every day of the season”
In the same inning, Bo Bichette was tagged when he came out of the bag at second after an apparent double that turned into a single.
Toronto center fielder George Springer led off the bottom of the first with his 24th home run of the season off Jameson Taillon. It was his ninth homer of the season and the 52nd of his career, the fourth most in major league history.
Bichette went 1 for 4 and has 44 hits this month, the most by a baseball player. Toronto in September. Aaron Hill had 43 hits in September 2007. The shortstop also made his 22nd error of the season in the fifth inning on Tuesday.
— Field Level Media
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
