Stanton HRs as Yankees beat Jays 7-2, extend wild card lead

TORONTO (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run, Aaron Judge homered and drove in two runs and the New York Yankees extended their lead atop the AL wild card standings by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 7-2 Tuesday night.

Gio Urshela added a solo homer and Anthony Rizzo had a pair of hits and drove in a run as New York (90-67) won its seventh straight and moved two games in front of Boston (88-69) in the wild card race with five games left. The Yankees took another injury hit when Jameson Taillon reinjured an ankle and left in the third inning.

Toronto (87-70) dropped three games behind the Yankees but remains a game behind Boston for the second wild card.

Stanton homered for the fourth straight game when he connected off right-hander Trevor Richards with two out in the seventh, driving the ball into the second deck in left. The homer was the 35th for Stanton, who leads the Yankees with 96 RBIs.

“We’re playing for keeps, we’re playing for a lot, and I think G is embodying that right now,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Stanton went 2 for 5 with a double. He’s batting .304 with 10 home runs and 25 RBI in 92 at bats this month.

Stanton became the first Yankees player with 13 or more RBIs in a four-game span in September since Paul O’Neill in 1999. It’s also the most RBIs in any four game span for Stanton in his 12-year career.

He became the seventh Yankees player with a pair of four-game homer streaks in a season after Babe Ruth (1930), Lou Gehrig (’31), Joe DiMaggio (’37), Yogi Berra (’56), Roger Maris (’61) and Alex Rodriguez (’07). Maris and A-Rod both did it three times.

“Like I say all the time, he’s a unicorn,” Boone said of Stanton. “We just kind of shake our heads sometimes.”

Stanton’s homer came on an 84 mph...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Stanton-HRs-as-Yankees-beat-Jays-7-2-extend-wild-16495129.php