Led by Yankees' third baseman, DJ LeMahieu, who went 4-for-6 with a home run and five RBIs, the New York Yankees won their first contest of the three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Bronx.
With this win, New York moved past the Blue Jays into second place in the AL East, which extended its winning streak to six.
“A couple of weeks ago, I don’t think teams were scared of us. And now we’re back to being the Bronx Bombers,” Luke Voit said. “I don’t think people want to play us in the playoffs.”
LeMahieu raised his batting average 13 points to .363. He also homered on a 48.7 mph offering from infielder Santiago Espinal leading off eighth, the slowest pitch hit for a home run since MLB started tracking velocity of pitches in 2008.
Giancarlo Stanton and Gio Urshela returned from the injured list, and the Yankees could get Aaron Judge back for the end of the series.
Stanton was 0 for 4 with a walk as the designated hitter, the only Yankees starter without a hit, after missing 32 games because of a strained left hamstring. On the other hand, Urshela had three hits and made several sparking defensive plays at third after missing 11 games with a right elbow bone spur.
New York scored its most runs since a 20-6 win at Atlanta back in 2015.