YANKEES 9 - RAYS 3
The Yankees are off and running in the American League Division Series, pounding their AL East rivals the Tampa Bay Rays 9-3 in the opener behind four Yankee homers, including a grand slam by Giancarlo Stanton in the top of the ninth inning.
The Yankees have now scored 31 runs this postseason, and have smacked 11 homers in the process. An offense that once couldn't get out of its own way at times in the regular season, the Yankees are hitting on all cylinders at the most opportune time of the year.
Stanton's grand slam in the top of the ninth with the Yankees already leading 5-3, was the exclamation point on a helluva night a Bombers team that has different look and feel to it. While October baseball is unpredictable, when a team gets that look, it can be hard to stop. The Yankees have that look right now; the look of a winner.
That look was felt early and often. Even after Tampa's Randy Arozarena tied the game on a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, the Yankees answered right away with a Clint Fraizer bomb to the second deck in left to take a 2-1 lead.
Even after Ji-Man Choi took Gerrit Cole deep on a two-run homer to give the Rays a 3-2 lead, it didn't shake the Yankees one bit. The fought back, and did it the only way they know how, with bombs all over the place. And this was supposed to be a pitcher friendly park in San Diego. Instead the Yankees and Rays turned it into Yankee Stadium West Coast.
Kyle Higashioka's solo homer in the top of the fifth quickly tied things up at three. Two batters later, Aaron Judge sent a laser into the seats to put New York up 4-3.
The score would hold there for pretty much the rest of the night. Cole got stronger as the night wore on. He worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth by striking out Manuel Margot. Then Cole came back to dominate the Rays with high heat in the bottom of the sixth to end his evening.
Overall, Cole gave the Yankees what they needed; six innings of six-hit, three-run ball. He struck out eight.
The Yankees bullpen was superb with Chad Green and Zach Britton each tossing clean innings in relief, setting the stage for the Yankees monstrous ninth inning rally.
It wasn't easy of course. The Yankees did have two men aboard for Judge, who struck out looking on a questionable slider on the lower half of the plate, but Aaron Hicks picked him up, by lacing a single to center to score Higashioka to make it 5-3.
Two batters later, Stanton worked the count to 2-2 before destroying a slider that hung over the plate, depositing it over the center field wall for a grand slam homer.
The Yankees lead the series 1-0 and will turn the ball to Deivi Garcia, an impressive rookie right hander who struck out 33 batters in 34 innings this year. He will face Tampa ace Tyler Glasnow. There is something special about this Yankees team. They have the look of a winner. After three straight years of near misses in the postseason, the Yankees are determined to get it right this time -- even if the scenery and the circumstances around them are alien.
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