The New York Yankees entered today’s last game of the season at Yankee Stadium with the hope of salvaging a game from the Tampa Bay Rays and holding onto a berth in the wild card one game winner takes all. But, unfortunately, the Yankees lost the first two games of the series and had a really embarrassing loss yesterday. So, in this final game of the regular season, the Yankees sent out Jameson Taillon to win against the Rays’ Michael Wacha. In a non-scoring game, the Yankees won it in the bottom of the ninth on a Judge hit that scored Tyler Wade from third for the 1 to nothing score putting them into the postseason.
Brandon Lowe led off yesterday’s game with a home run, another in the 3rd, and yet another in the seventh lead off today’s game against Taillon and flew out to second. Randy Arozarena popped out to Urshela in short. Wander Franco ground out to end the half. At the bottom, Gleyber Torres against Wacha ground out up the middle. Anthony Rizzo got hit by a pitch. Aaron Judge ground out into a double play to end the scoreless inning.
The second inning was led off by Austin Meadows ground out. Ji-Man Choi ground out to the right side. Mike Zunino popped out to the infield to end the half. At the bottom, Giancarlo Stanton led off by grounding out. Joey Gallo flew out to left field. Gio Urshela ground out to complete a quick inning for both pitchers. No score.
At the top of the third, Joey Wendle struck out looking. Kevin Kiermaier walked. Lowe singled to left, with Keirmaier making it to third base. Arozarena, with two on and one out, struck out when he couldn’t hold up. Franco flew out to Gallo in left for three shut-out innings for Taillon. The bottom was led off by Gardner, who ground out to second. Sanchez struck off swinging. Odor lined out to first. No score.
Nelson Cruz led the fourth inning with Taillon still on the ground out, but Taillon was taken out in favor of Wandy Peralta facing Meadows, who doubled down the left-field line. Choi walked. With two on and one out, Zunino singled to third, but the lead runner was called out at third. Then with two on and two outs, Wendle at the plate runners advanced on a wild pitch. Wendle ground out to Torres for the final out. Torres led off the bottom by singling up the middle. Rizzo flew out to a sliding Meadows. Judge with one on and one out struck out swinging. Stanton flew out to right to end the inning. No score after four.
Kevin Kiermaier led off the fifth by striking out swinging. Then, Lowe struck out swinging, and that was the day for Peralta. Clay Holmes came in to face Arozarena, who with two out and no one on base struck out as Yankee pitching struck out the side. At the bottom, Joey Gallo led off and walked for his 111th walk of the season. Urshela ground into a double play wasting Gallo’s walk. Gardner flew out to left field, making it five scoreless innings.
The sixth inning was led off by Franco against Holmes and popped out to Torres at second. Cruz ground out to third and spun and got the out. Austin Meadows faced the new Yankee pitcher Chad Green and popped up, in a long run by Urshela, he caught the ball going headfirst into the Rays dugout with no regard for his body, it was a spectacular play; he was injured, he slowly made his way to the Yankee dugout on his own power, and Yankee fans showered him with applause. At the bottom, Sanchez struck out swinging. Odor struck out. Torres, with no one on and two outs, battled through nine pitches for a walk. Rizzo flew out for a blank scoreboard after six.
Amazingly at the top of the seventh, Urshela was back out on the field after crashing into the dugout in the sixth. Ji-Man Choi led off and doubled in front of Judge in right. Zunino struck out. Wendle lined out to Judge. Kiermaier walked. Lowe faced new pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga and popped out to Odor to end the half. At the bottom, Aaron Judge led off and hit a soft ground ball out to second. Stanton popped out to the infield. Gallo struck out for yet another scoreless inning.
The eighth Arozarena got an infield single when Sanchez couldn’t get the ball. Arozarena stole second. Franco flew out to Gallo, but Arozarena got to third, avoiding the tag out. Cruz struck out swinging. Meadows flew out to Judge in right. Urshela led off the bottom by grounding out against former Yankee David Robertson. Gardner popped out to short center. Sanchez flew out to left. No score after eitght.
Still, with no score, Ji-Man Choi led off and struck out on a Chapman slider. Zunino lined out to Gallo in left. Wendle walked. Wendle stole second. Manuel Magot pinch hit for Kiermaier and struck out swinging. At the bottom of the ninth, Odor led off and singled up the middle. He was pinch-run by Tyler Wade. Gleyber Torres flew out to right with Wade going to second. Anthony Rizzo singled with Wade going to third and Rizzo going to second on the throw. With Aaron Judge coming up, the Rays went to Kittredge. Judge hit with two on and one out, scoring Wade as the Yankees go to the wild card game.
The winning pitcher was Aroldis Chapman, and the loser was Josh Fleming. The final score was the New York Yankees 1 and the Tampa Bay Rays 0.