Yankees clinch AL East title, win 100th game
YANKEES 9, ANGELES 1
NEW YORK — The resilient New York Yankees powered their way to the club’s first AL East title since 2012, routing the Los Angeles Angels 9-1 Thursday night behind three RBI each from old mainstay Brett Gardner and newcomer DJ LeMahieu.
A day after wasting a chance to clinch first place, the home-run-happy Yankees went ahead when LeMahieu hit a three-run drive in the second inning and breezed to their 100th victory.
Gardner, among just two holdovers from their last World Series championship team in 2009, added a solo shot in the fourth and then hit a two-run double in the sixth. Cameron Maybin and Clint Frazier homered for good measure in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman struck out Albert Pujols to end it as fans’ cellphones flashed to record the moment.
“You got a team full of savages,” slugger Aaron Judge said, invoking the word Manager Aaron Boone made famous during his mid-summer rant at an umpire. “It’s been a long season, a lot of ups and downs. We’re going to celebrate and enjoy tonight, but we got a lot more baseball to play.”
Players lined up for handshakes and hugs, more exuberantly than usual, but there was no wild celebration on the field.
Despite putting 30 players on the injured list this season, New York (100-54) wrapped up first place with eight games to spare and made Boone the first manager to win 100 games in each of his first two major league seasons.
“[We’ve] got a lot bigger fish to fry, but this is the first step along the way,” Boone said. “Nothing has got in their way. Whatever has come adversity-wise, they faced it and powered right through it.”
The Yankees open the playoffs on Oct. 4, likely against Minnesota, which leads the AL Central, or the wild-card winner.
Masahiro Tanaka (11-8), in line to start the opener, allowed Kole Calhoun’s home run leading off the fourth. The Angels had just 4 hits in 7 innings off Tanaka, who struck out 6 and walked 1.
In his second game back from an injury layoff of nearly three months, Giancarlo Stanton was 0 for 3 with a walk and two strikeouts as a designated hitter.
Andrew Heaney (4-6) gave up six runs and five hits in five-plus innings.
BLUE JAYS 8, ORIOLES 4
Cavan Biggio homered and had three RBI to offset a spectacular, home run-robbing catch by Austin Hays, and Toronto beat host Baltimore.
INDIANS 7, TIGERS 0
Mike Clevinger pitched six shutdown innings, Franmil Reyes homered in his return to the lineup and Cleveland moved into a tie for the second AL wild card with a victory over visiting Detroit.
TWINS 8, ROYALS 5
Nelson Cruz hit two of the Twins’ four home runs and matched his season high with five RBI as host Minnesota beat Kansas City.