From Bryan Hoch:
Especially as they grind through this critical gauntlet of a dozen straight games against winning clubs, the Yankees know every contest matters, each day another chance to firm up their October position.
This one felt a little bigger.
Ben Rice cracked an early three-run homer, Max Fried steadied himself over seven innings and Cody Bellinger banged a go-ahead double, setting up a 4-3 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s huge,” Rice said. “And with that being said, we’ve got more work to do, so we’re going to keep going.”
Devin Williams worked around a hit and walk in the eighth before David Bednar locked down his second save in as many days. With 19 games remaining, the Yankees have trimmed their American League East deficit to two games. Toronto holds a tiebreaker between the clubs.
Well, THAT was nice.
The Blue Jays seem like a terrible matchup for Max Fried, as he gets outs by allowing contact, and the Blue Jays are really good at making GOOD contact. So when it was tied 3-3 after a double left runners on second and third with no outs, it looked bad. But then Fried used some pitching wizardry to strand both runners, and the Yankees reclaimed the lead in the next inning, scoring their fourth run off of Max Scherzer, who was heroic in how well he battled with a bad back.
The much-maligned Devin Williams pitched out of trouble in the eighth, and David Bednar did well in the ninth (aided greatly by an amazing throw by Austin Wells to nail Nathan Lukes trying to get into scoring position with one out). That George Springer never got a chance to get up in the ninth was huge.
Anyhow, great win. Featured image is Max Fried congratulating Aaron Judge for making a great catch that prevented the Blue Jays from tying the game in the following inning. Fried pitched seven innings of three-run ball, so he “deserves” the featured image, but he also almost blew the game right there, so his featured image is him thanking another player for bailing him out of trouble.