Yanks hold on to inch closer to wild card
Magic number is two to clinch one-game playoff after nearly blowing 6-0 lead to lowly O’s
CC Sabathia won for just the second time since the All-star break, Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks hit two-run homers as the New York Yankees built a six-run lead and beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-8 Friday night to close in on their second straight AL wild card.
Luke Voit added a two-run single to give him 24 RBIS in 31 games with the Yankees, and Hicks scored four runs. After Baltimore closed to 9-8 in the eighth, Aaron Judge doubled in a run for his first RBI since returning from the disabled list on Sept. 14.
New York lowered its magic number to two over Tampa Bay for ensuring a wildcard game on Oct. 3, most likely against Oakland. The Yankees began the night 1½ games ahead of the Athletics for homefield advantage.
Baltimore dropped to a major leagueworst 44-109, overtaking the 1937 St. Louis Browns for second-most losses in franchise history behind the 111 of the 1939 Browns.
Backed by a 6-0 lead, Sabathia (8-7) allowed two runs in six innings and improved to 20-11 against Baltimore. The 38-year-old left-hander, making perhaps his last Yankee Stadium appearance, struck out five and raised his total to 2,981. He had been 1-4 in his prior 11 starts.
Gregorius hit his 27th homer in the first and Hicks added his 25th in a four-run fourth off rookie Yefry Ramirez (1-7), who is 0-4 in 10 starts since beating Boston on July 24. A former Yankees farmhand, Ramirez gave up six runs, six hits and three walks in 32/3 innings and fell to 0-3 against New York.
Baltimore closed to 6-4 on Adam Jones’ two-run single in the fifth, Austin Wynn’s homer against Jonathan Loaisiga and Jonathan Villar’s RBI single against formeroriole Zach Britton later in the seventh.
Voit singled off Cody Carroll in a threerun bottom half that put New York ahead 9-4, but Renato Nunez hit a two-run homer against A.J. Cole in the eighth and DJ Stewart hit a two-run homer on David Robertson’s first pitch as Baltimore closed within a run. Dellin Betances pitched the ninth for his fourth save.