The New York Yankees rolled into San Francisco and took the first two games of this three-game set against the Giants, and today they’d get the chance to complete a sweep. With Nestor Cortes going up against Blake Snell, it would be a battle of the southpaws on a gorgeous day at AT&T Park. The Yankees would get blitzed by the bottom of San Francisco’s lineup, and when all hope looked lost in the top of the ninth inning, their new superstar would come through to complete the ninth-inning rally.
Juan Soto’s two-run home run, his second of the day, galvanized the offense in the ninth as they stormed back to complete a sweep of the San Francisco Giants.
Juan Soto Crushes The Giants, Yankees Come Back To Win 7-5
The game would open with the Yankees collecting another first-inning home run as Juan Soto deposited a solo shot over triple’s alley. His 16th home run of the season, he would open the scoring for the Yankees, but Nestor Cortes’ spotty command gave the Giants a run right back in the following inning. Casey Schmitt, who would terrorize the left-hander today, picked up an RBI single to make it 1-1, and in the following inning, Heliot Ramos demolished a ball to straightaway centerfield to make it 2-1.
It wasn’t all for the Giants, as Schmitt would hammer a deep home run of his own off of Cortes to make it 3-1, and this would be a rare misstep for the Yankees’ rotation. It was the first time the Yankees didn’t get at least five innings from their starter in nearly a month, as he pitched just 4.1 innings before Dennis Santana relieved him in the fifth. In the top half of that inning, the offense rallied to load the bases against Blake Snell, who would be pulled in the middle of the inning due to an injury.
Alex Verdugo faced off against Erik Miller after a rare mid-at-bat pitching change due to the aforementioned injury, and he drilled an RBI double to make it a 3-3 game. Santana would dash the Yankees’ hopes in the sixth however, as he loaded the bases and then surrendered a two-out, two-run single to Heliot Ramos to give the Giants a 5-3 win. They would send in both Ryan Walker and Tyler Rogers to pick up holds, but it was their usually dominant closer who got torched in the ninth.
The rally started with a Gleyber Torres single, and while Jose Trevino grounded out, it was his hustle that avoided what would have been a back-breaking double play. Anthony Volpe would rifle a triple into the gap to score Trevino, pulling the game within one and setting the stage for Juan Soto to once again come through. He smoked a ball to right field for his second home run of the game, as the Yankees would take a 6-5 lead in the ninth. Aaron Judge would work a walk and Giancarlo Stanton would demolish a ball to right-center field to make it 7-5, and Clay Holmes closed it out in the ninth.
Now at 42 wins, the Yankees have the most wins in all of baseball (unless the Phillies win tonight, then it’ll be a tie), and they improve their lead in the AL East to three games as well. All, it was a 7-2 West Coast trip for the Yankees, who won three series on the West Coast for the first time since…1998. This team is firing on all cylinders right now, and they’ve shown time and time again that they’ll find ways to beat you.
It’s a much-deserved off-day for the Yankees tomorrow as they fly home to the Bronx, with the Minnesota Twins scheduled to come into town on Tuesday to kick off another series.