STANTON SLAMS THE DOOR
His homer in ninth turns close game with Rays into rout
Gerrit Cole watched helplessly from the Houston bullpen a year ago, a spectator rather than a participant during Game 7 of the World Series won by Washington.
Yankees 9, Rays 3
Cole, who signed a $324 million contract with the Yankees in the offseason, said such moments serve to stoke the desire to succeed.
“It’s what drives all of us,” said Cole, who had given the Astros a 3-2 World Series lead by winning Game 5. “I have my own particular motivations for my journey up to this point. ... Anything you can use to fuel that fire. Unfortunately, it usually comes in the form of some sort of pain.”
Tampa Bay has been a pain in New York’s side all season, winning eight of 10 regular-season meetings, but that turned in the postseason Monday night against Cole and the Yankees.
New York posted a 9-3 win in Game 1 of the AL Division Series played at Petco Park.
The best-of-five series continues today with Game 2 matching Yankees righthander Deivi Garcia against Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who will need to find a way to quell the Yankees’ bats. New York has produced 31 runs in three playoff games.
“We’ve got to find a way to get more than that,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his offense’s production. “That’s putting a lot on our pitchers to shut down the Yankees offense with only getting three runs.”
The Yankees broke open a one-run game with a five-run ninth inning, highlighted by Giancarlo Stanton’s grand slam off Rays reliever John Curtiss. It was the fourth homer of the game for the Bombers, who set a franchise record with at least three home runs for the third straight postseason game.
“He’s such a dangerous hitter in the middle of our lineup,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Stanton. “When he’s controlling the strike zone, he’s as deadly as anyone.”
Cole allowed six hits and
three runs with eight strikeouts over six innings. Key was striking out Rays outfielder Manuel Margot to end the fifth inning with the bases loaded. Cole looked like his usual dominating self — except for Ji-Man Choi’s tworun homer in the fourth — even if everything around him seemed so surreal.
This game was absent the atmosphere one would imagine for a postseason series between bitter American League East rivals.
Of course, what do you expect when two teams are required to play in an empty ballpark on the opposite
coast?
Fortunately, the word POSTSEASON was stenciled in big letters along both foul lines.
The crowd was created by a couple thousand cutouts placed behind both dugouts as well as an upper level section adjacent to the right-field foul pole.
The cutouts included San Diego Sports royalty, with Kawhi Leonard, Dan Fouts, Reggie Bush and Marshall Faulk all sharing the fourth row behind the Yankees dugout.
They watched New York smack three home runs — by Clint Frazier, Kyle Higashioka and Judge — before the game was half over.
All three homers came off Rays starter Blake Snell, who was staked to a brief one-run lead by Choi’s homer in the fourth.
The lead was gone moments later, with Higashioka and Judge sandwiching ho
mers around D.J. Lemahieu’s ground out for a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth.
“It’s frustrating,” said Snell, who allowed four runs on six hits over five innings with four strikeouts. “It was just a weird night for me. I couldn’t get in a rhythm. ... I’ve got to be better than that. When we get three runs against Cole, we’ve got to be able to win that game.”
New York’s big ninth inning removed any drama that may have developed in the final inning. It was notable, however, for Tampa Bay lefthander Shane McClanahan making his major league debut. He came on for Curtiss to get the last out in the top of the ninth.
McClanahan became the first pitcher in major league history whose first appearance came in the postseason.
In a year like this, what else would you expect?