Yankees clip Angels in 10 to gain game on Rays in AL East race
ANAHEIM, Calif.— The Yankees’ top priority in September is trying to chase down the Rays for the division.Besides that, they need to get Aaron Judge back healthy and allow him to get his timing down before the postseason arrives.
They wouldn’t mind giving their heavily used high-leverage relievers a rest, either.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.
In addition to all of that, though, the final month of the regular season offers another sideshow of sorts: the AL Cy Young race.And while Cam Schlittler certainly added to his case with a dominant outing Wednesday night, his lineup let him down, spoiling a gem and forcing the Yankees’ ace to settle for a no decision after making just one mistake across eight innings.But the Yankees bats woke up in time to make sure the night was not a total bust.Austin Wells delivered a clutch two-out, two-strike, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th to put the Yankees ahead for good on the way to a 6-3 win over the Angels to take the series at Angel Stadium.After David Bednar tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th and then exploded with two outs against reliever Luke Murphy.Wells’ go-ahead single — causing the Yankees-heavy crowd to erupt — was the first of four straight hits as Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice followed with RBI singles of their own to push the lead to 6-1.That proved important as Michael Fulmer gave up a two-run shot in the bottom of the frame before recovering to close out the win.By the end of the night, the Yankees (80-60) had moved within 3 ¹/₂ games of the Rays for the division and five games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card entering Thursday’s off-day.Schlittler had retired 17 straight before leaving a cutter down the middle to Vaughn Grissom, who crushed it to dead center field...