The New York Yankees not only are doing enough to close in on a playoff berth and home field advantage in the wild-card round, they have the lead in the American League East firmly in their sights.
The Yankees can make further progress in their bid to catch the first-place Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night when they host the American League-worst Chicago White Sox in the opener of a three-game series.
New York (88-68) enters the final six games with a magic number of four to secure its eighth playoff berth in nine seasons. The Yankees also hold a three-game lead on the Boston Red Sox for the home field advantage in a potential best of three-game wild-card series.
But it is New York’s two-game deficit behind the Blue Jays in the AL East that holds plenty of intrigue. Toronto holds the tiebreaker and has a magic number of four to win the division.
The Yankees have won seven of 10 on a just-completed three-city road trip and are 19-8 since a 12-1 loss to the Red Sox on Aug. 23 left them 6 1/2 games behind the division lead.
“Every win is precious,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Every day, it feels like there’s so much on the line.”
Sunday, the Yankees scored six times in the 10th inning to earn a 7-1 win in Baltimore. Ben Rice highlighted his second career four-hit game with a tiebreaking grand slam and is 16-for-49 (.327) over his past 14 games.
“We’ve still got a chance to take the division here,” Rice said. “We have some important games coming up.”
The Yankees took three of four on the road against the White Sox from Aug. 28-31. New York outscored Chicago 25-9 in the first three games before Lenyn Sosa hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning off Tim Hill in the series finale.
The White Sox (58-98) need to win five of their final six to avoid a third straight 100-loss season. Chicago’s win over the Yankees started a six-game winning streak and a run of nine wins in 11 games.
Since Sept. 11, the White Sox are 1-8. They struck out 11 times while going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Sunday’s 3-2 home loss to the San Diego Padres.
“Coming down the stretch, you’ve seen how the lineup’s been playing out, and it might be how it will be for a long time,” Chicago rookie Colson Montgomery said. “It’s been good, all of us coming up here, growing together, having some good experiences, some bad. With this group of guys, we’re going to keep learning and keep getting better.”
Luis Gil (4-1, 3.33 ERA) opens the series for the Yankees coming off one of his worst outings this season. After getting consecutive wins for the first time, Gil allowed five runs (four earned) on a season-worst nine hits to go along with two walks in 4 2/3 innings during a no-decision at Minnesota on Wednesday.
Gil allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings at Chicago on Aug. 31 and is 1-1 with a 5.12 ERA in four career starts against the White Sox.
Shane Smith (6-8. 4.06), who is 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA in his past seven starts, is set to pitch for Chicago. Smith allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings Aug. 30 in a no-decision against the Yankees and was tagged for six runs in 4 1/3 innings Tuesday against Baltimore.
–Field Level Media
