Emerging from an offensive funk
LeMahieu, Voit break out to pound Marlins
NEW YORK — The Yankees’ five-game home-run drought was snapped Saturday as the offense clicked back into gear.
Likely 2020 American League batting champion DJ LeMahieu had four hits and likely 2020 AL home-run king Luke Voit had one of three homers as the Yankees beat the Marlins 11-4 on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
But it wasn’t one of the big sluggers who snapped the five-game, 190 at-bat and 215-plate appearance homer-less streak.
It was Tyler Wade, the light-hitting backup shortstop hitting in the ninth spot, who finally ended the drought. Playing for Gleyber Torres the day after the shortstop committed his ninth error, Wade hit a two-run homer off the facade of the second deck in right field.
That put a charge in the Yankees offense.
“And that’s what makes this lineup great,” Voit said. “I feel like we’re always one swing away. We just need to get that one to get us going.
“And it doesn’t always have to be a homer, but that was huge. Tyler Wade’s obviously not a guy who is going to hit for a lot of home runs, but [he’s] a big spark. He’s a spark plug in our lineup. It was nice.
“And it kept the lineup going and moving and, boom, all of a sudden we have 11 runs on the board. We put some pressure on the pitchers and that’s our goal in this lineup: to make them have to make pitches with runners in scoring position. And we got to do our job, get it done.”
The Yankees also snapped a threegame losing streak, with LeMahieu going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and getting 6 strong innings from rookie right-hander Deivi Garcia.
The Yankees (33-26), who watched the Marlins celebrate clinching their playoff berth on the field in the Bronx on Friday night, are one step closer to clinching the fifth seed in the playoffs, which start Tuesday.
Saturday, Voit and LeMahieu likely clinched their races.
With just one regular-season game remaining, LeMahieu has a commanding lead in the batting title race, hitting .359 to lead the majors. Juan Soto, who played a doubleheader later Saturday, was hitting .349 and Tim Anderson, who edged LeMahieu for the title last season, went into Saturday night’s game hitting .337.
LeMahieu, who won the 2016 batting title in the National League, would be the first player to win the batting title in both leagues since Ed Delahanty in 1899 and 1902.
He would be the Yankees first batting champion since Bernie Williams in 1998.
Voit finished the game three homers ahead of Jose Abreu, who played Saturday night, and five ahead of Mike Trout, Marcel Ozuna and Jose Ramirez.
He would be the eighth Yankees to lead the majors in home runs for the season, joining the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle. He would be the first Bomber to do it since Alex Rodriguez in 2007.
“It’s pretty cool,” Voit said. “I’ve been trying to transform myself into a better power hitter. And this year was another steppingstone for me… I felt like, every time I hit a home run Jose Abreu hit a home run too, so it was fun. And, you know, the goal is to keep it going in the playoffs.”
Giancarlo Stanton doubled in Aaron Judge to make it a tie game at 3-3. When Aaron Hicks homered the next inning, another two-run homer, it was the first time the Yankees held a lead in a game since Tuesday night’s win over the Blue Jays.
LeMahieu’s double, which drove in two, got the Bombers offense back into gear with a 7-3 lead.
Voit finished off the seven-run sixth inning with his major-leagueleading 22nd home run, a threerun shot.
It had been almost a week for Voit between home runs. He had hit the last one in Sunday’s loss at Fenway. It was the last home run the Yankees hit until Wade’s fifth-inning shot.
Suddenly, the Yankees dugout exhaled and the offense was unleashed.
“I mean, it was definitely a big blow — obviously, it’s been a while since we got one,” manager Aaron Boone said. "You go six days for this team to not hit one, then all of a sudden you hit a few and in about 30 minutes.