Yankees clinch the Division Series

Unbelievable, the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians, 10-9, Wednesday night in order to advance to the MLB Division Series playoff round. The Yankees won a wild one in perhaps the game of the year. What an emotional roller coaster ride! Over four hours of just absolute mayhem, and it all leads to a Yankees plane ride to San Diego.

It was a wacky one from the beginning, with rain delays plaguing the start of the game throwing off both starting pitchers. Masahiro Tanaka was not his best, although he did bounce back after a rough first inning. He still had a rough night overall; here was his line: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 6R, 6ER, 3BB, and 3K.

After the Yanks fell behind 4-0 in the first inning that was split up with a rain delay, Giancarlo Stanton chipped away in the second with his second home run in as many games.

A couple of innings later, the Yanks loaded the bases with no one out for Gio Urshela. Aaron Hicks tripled, followed by walks from Luke Voit and Stanton. Urshela swatted a low 3-2 offering into the night and over the left-field wall for a grand slam and a 5-4 lead in the 4th. He became the third Yankee to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the playoffs.

An inning later, Stanton added a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4, but the Tribe would tie it in the bottom of the inning.

Luckily, Gary Sanchez quickly came to the rescue. He belted a wind-assisted two-run shot to right to give the Yanks the lead again. It just barely scraped over the wall. It was such a huge hit, and that wasn’t all from the Yankee catcher.

Zach Britton came into the game in the 6th to escape a jam with two on and one out for Chad Green.  Britton induced the double play and escaped the frame. Unfortunately, disaster broke loose in the 7th. After Britton retired the first two hitters, he allowed the next two to reach. Boone questionably brought in Jonathan Loaisiaga from the bullpen, and he allowed a double to tie the game. He also came in for the 8th and was credited for Cleveland’s go-ahead run.

It looked like the Yankees were toast. Cleveland sent Brad Hand in, who hadn’t blown a save all year. Stanton walked,  Urshela singled, Gleyber Torres singled, then Sanchez came through with a sac fly to knot things at 9 apiece. Right after, DJ Lemahieu followed him up a go-ahead single. It was just an unreal inning by the Yankees to take the lead.

Now, the Yankees have a date with the Tampa Bay Rays in San Diego. Game 1 is scheduled for Monday night.