Mitchell, Pazos recalled by Yankees — RAILRIDERS

With Bryan Mitchell making his first start of the season, it was easy to expect the worst. Molina’s teammate Matt Adams later slugged a solo homer to right that goes out of PNC Park and into the water of the Allegheny River of a 9-7 win. “I barrelled it, thought it might have a chance and Gardner made a great play on it”, said Smoak. “It’s been my goal all year to get back here”.

With the Yankees running out of time to chase a playoff spot, manager Joe Girardi spared no expense with his staff. Chasen Shreve (2-1) wound up with the win and Parker got his first save since 2013 with the Cubs.

All of the Yankees’ wildest October dreams remained in play after their 2-0 win at the Stadium, a victory that pushed them to within 2½ games of the Orioles, who are now in control in the battle for the final AL wild-card spot.

“We’ve been playing baseball really since about August 1”, Girardi said. “We keep getting closer, and that’s the idea here. And it’s been fun”. The Yankees now trail first-place Toronto by 4 ¹/₂ games in the AL East. Let us know in the comments section below.

If all three of the baby bombers can find a way to get red-hot right now, the surging Yankees can find themselves with a terrifyingly good offense down the stretch that other teams will be downright intimidated by.

Marcus Stroman (9-7) struck out eight in five innings, but the Blue Jays lost for the fifth time in six games. They have just two homers in their last six games after averaging 1.5 homers per game through the season’s first five months. He allowed two runs and three hits in eight innings April 14 against the Yankees in Toronto. “They played great defence, (Chase) Headley down at third base robbed us a couple of times and Gardner, he’s been known to do that too”.

“Boy, this is exciting”, Judge said to Gardner, or words to that effect. The 29-year-old rookie replaced Brad Peacock.

It took 93 wins for the Blue Jays to win the East past year and a number close to that will likely be needed to claim the division title this season. “A lot of times it’s a lot easier if you’re in the game”.

TWINS 6, ROYALS 5: Miguel Sano’s hustle led Minnesota to a pair of early runs and his RBI double tied the game in the decisive seventh inning, helping the Twins dodge a series sweep at home.

Toronto would send Jose Bautista, pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro and Troy Tulowitzki to the plate in the ninth against Yankee reliever Tyler Clippard. His only other save this season came with Arizona before he was traded back to NY.

Ichiro Suzuki hit the first pinch-hit home run of his career, a two-run shot in the eighth for Miami.

Switch-hitting veteran Mark Teixeira was still on the bench, and the right-handed hitting Austin isn’t far removed from a long slump.

NEW YORK-If the Blue Jays fail to defend their AL East title this season, they may look back at this nine-game road trip as when the division slipped from their grasp.

In either case, NY has three clubs they will need to leap-frog to win a postseason berth.

LHP Aaron Loup was called up from Triple-A Buffalo for his fourth stint with the Blue Jays.

On a side note for those who missed the game, Russell Martin noticeably struggled with what appears to be a knee injury when hitting on the night.

Brian McCann homered in the fourth for the Yankees. Betances probably will be unavailable again Thursday, Girardi said.

Mitchell gave up back to back walks to the first two batters, Melvin Upton Jr., and Kevin Pillar.

The Blue Jays have lined up their best starters for a key three-game series with the Boston Red Sox this weekend.

As for the two wild-card spots, Houston and NY qualified previous year with 86 and 87 wins, respectively. Rays RHP Alex Cobb (0-0) makes his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery.