The New York Yankees have won the American League wildcard game 7-2 against Oakland Athletics. Superstar Aaron Judge returned to form in time and paved the way early. Now comes the prestige duel against archrival Boston Red Sox in the ALDS.
The Yankees came out of the starting blocks in an aggressive mood. First starter Luis Severino made a statement with an aggressive 10 pitch shutout inning. Then it was Aaron Judge who fired the first volley directly in front of the A’s bow with his 2-Run-Homerun.
Severino hardly admitted anything over four innings, but then got into difficulties in the fifth inning. After two singles at the beginning, it was over for him. There came Dellin Betances, who eliminated the threat and also pitched a dominant sixth inning.
In the sixth inning the decision was finally made in favour of New York. Judge opened with a pretty lucky lead-off double, which he first beat next to the right field line in the infield. But the ball somehow bounced into the Fair Territory. Aaron Hicks put on an RBI double – 3:0. Then Hicks advanced to third base by wild pitch, Giancarlo Stanton came on base by walk and promptly stole second base. A 2-Run-Triple by Luke Voit and a Sacrifice Fly by Didi Gregorius followed to 6:0 for New York.
The A’s, on the other hand, only made it to the scoreboard in the eighth inning with a 2-Run-Homerun from MLB-Homerun-Leader Khris Davis. But left-handed Zach Britton held the A’s on the two runs, so Stanton hit a solo Homerun and retrieved at least one of those runs. In the ninth inning Closer Aroldis Chapman closed the door.
Judge hasn’t been the same since his wrist injury. See you tonight in the Bronx! Judge opened the game with a 2-Run-Homerun and let Yankee Stadium explode early. He also added a lead-off double in the sixth inning, which was fateful from A’s point of view, and thus initiated the four-run inning to decide the game. Judge was thus, as usual, the driving force that the Yankees lacked for almost two months.
Until the sixth inning the A’s were within striking distance, but then right-hander Fernando Rodney came to the Mound and initiated the preliminary decision. He gave two doubles to Judge and Hicks and was responsible for two of the four runs in the inning. He didn’t manage to get out himself, but afterwards brought Blake Treinen into so much trouble that he didn’t get out of the inning unscathed (IP, 2 ER) either.
This article was published without prior review by Major League Baseball.