Yankees hang on for much-needed win over Cardinals to get some breathing space in wild-card race

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LOUIS — Roughly two hours before first pitch Friday, Brian Cashman laid out a simple task for his scuffling club over the final quarter of the season. “We just need to win,” the general manager said.“We’ve got to win tonight’s game and keep it simple, one game at a time, but then string together win after win after win to get to where we want to go.” For one night at least, that was accomplished, though they did not make it easy on themselves.

The stringing together part is what has largely escaped the Yankees over the past two-plus months, but they have to start somewhere, and they gave themselves another chance Friday. The Yankees raced out to an early lead, and Luis Gil and the bullpen made sure it just barely stood up in a 4-3 win over the Cardinals at a steamy Busch Stadium. Coming off a series in which they took two of three from their perennial punching bag, the Twins, the Yankees (65-57) won for the third time in four games and fourth time in six games as they try to scrape some momentum together for an extended run.For now, they kept pace in the division race, remaining 6 ¹/₂ games behind the Blue Jays, while gaining some breathing room for the final AL wild-card spot, now 1 ¹/₂ games ahead of the Guardians. The Yankees led 4-0 by the third inning and hung on late to fend off the middling Cardinals (61-62) as Luke Weaver and David Bednar combined for the final seven outs in a one-run game.

Bednar picked up his second save in four chances since coming over to the Yankees at the trade deadline. A 3-for-17 showing with runners in scoring position kept the Yankees from giving their pitchers some more breathing room in the late innings. Gil, who gave up just one run across 5 ¹/₃ innings, was the beneficiary of three inning-ending double plays through the first three frames, helping him ...

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Publisher: New York Post

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