Yankees storm past A’s Judge, Stanton help punch New York’s ticket to ALDS vs. Red Sox
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge got the party started with a two-run homer nine pitches in. Luis Severino let out a primal scream after escaping a bases-loaded jam with 100 mph heat. Giancarlo Stanton capped the mauling with monstrous drive in his postseason debut.
From the first inning on, there was little doubt. Next stop for the Yankees: Fenway Park and the rival Boston Red Sox.
Going ahead quickly against reliever-turnedstarter Liam Hendriks, the Yankees pounded the Oakland Athletics, 7-2, Wednesday night to win their second AL wild-card game in a row.
Severino atoned for flopping in his postseason debut last year, and late-season spark Luke Voit added a two-run triple off Blake Treinen in a four-run sixth, missing a home run by inches. Stanton added 443foot drive to left off the Oakland closer in the eighth that landed in the second deck, completing a power show by the team that set a major league record for most home runs in a season.
After one of those boisterous Bronx celebrations that used to be an October staple, the Yankees will take a train to Boston for a best-of-five Division Series starting Friday, a matchup of 100-win heavyweights. By the late innings, the sellout crowd was chanting “We want Boston!” The Red Sox went 10-9 against the Yankees this year.
For Oakland, it was the latest disappointing defeat in what has stretched into decades of disappointment.
The A’s have lost eight conssecutive winner-takeall postseason games since beating Willie Mays and the New York Mets in Game 7 of the 1973 World Series and dropped all four postseason matchups against the Yankees.
New York became the first team since the 2001 A’s to reach triple digits in wins and fail to finish first — the Red Sox set a team record with 108 victories.
Yankees fans fretted about an all-or-nothing knockout match, thinking back to last year when Severino fell behind Minnesota, 3-0, just 10 pitches in. New York rallied for an 8-4 win against the Twins, but the memory was still raw.
Severino was 14-2 at the All-Star break this year. Then he slumped badly in the second half, and rookie manager Aaron Boone’s decision to start the 24-year-old right-hander against the A’s instead of former Pirates pitcher J.A. Happ or Masahiro Tanaka was intensely debated. It was exactly the type of argument Boone used to enjoy as a TV analyst who broadcast the American League wild-card game last year.