Judge still strikes fear

Gregorius, if necessary.

In truth, although Judge leads the majors with 197 strikeouts, the Orioles felt Sanchez was more vulnerable against Britton’s sinker.

“He’ll chase down, Judge won’t,” was the way someone on the Orioles side explained it.

That’s the way it played out and, strategy aside, what mattered was the Yankees missed an opportunity to gain ground on the Red Sox, who lost to the Rays, and remained three games back.

This is why it’s so hard to catch a first- place team in September with no more head-to-head meetings. Unless you’re the Indians, you can't win them all, and some days Ubaldo Jimenez, who came in with an 11.42 ERA against the Yankees in three appearances this season, somehow turns into Corey Kluber, racking up 10 strikeouts.

And so as time is running out on the Yankees, attention turns to the wild-card race. After all, here comes the team that likely will be trying to break a lot of hearts in the Bronx in two weeks.

Yes, the Twins are in town for three games, and somewhat like the Yankees, they are ahead of schedule in a rebuilding scenario, winning just enough with a bunch of young players to turn this season into a run at the post-season. Their youth makes them unpredictable and perhaps a bit scary in a one-game scenario. Maybe they'll be intimidated in a playoff setting at the Stadium, where the Yankees have owned the Twins in the postseason, or maybe they’ll be oblivious enough to change the script.

You may not know many of the names but they can put runs on the board. They scored 13 on Sunday against the Blue Jays, and they’re leading the American League with over six runs per game since Aug. 1 — despite star slugger Miguel Sano being out the last three weeks with a leg injury.

But here’s the real intrigue in this series: