Yankees clinch playoff spot after 2-year absence, top Boston

And, maybe Wednesday is when the rest of the Yanks will listen to one of their linchpins, who offered soothing words as a guide of sorts in what must be an uneasy time as they strive to clinch the club’s first postseason berth since 2012.

With the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels losing, the Yankees needed only a victory to secure a spot in the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday. Hurricane Joaquin is making its way up the Atlantic Ocean and might be bound for the mid-Atlantic coast, exactly where the Yankees are headed this weekend, scheduled to face the Baltimore Orioles for three games to finish the 2015 season.

Call it good karma. Light-hitting utility infielder Brendan Ryan also drove in a run with a second-inning single.

“So maybe now we pass it onto the next person”. 500 (78-80) with four to play. Girardi said he has been wanting to give Rodriguez a day off, “But we need him now”. “It wasn’t our only motivation”. If they were to win Thursday night, they’d be in, and get to celebrate at home. “We just got to come back and play good Yankee baseball, and we will”.

It was Bradley’s idea to bunt, something Lovullo was against and tried to talk him out of.

“This is their playoff and they want to make an impact and we would be the same way playing against them”, he added.

“And getting the opportunities to help this team has been a great experience for me”.

“If that was the case, I probably wouldn’t be back”, Tanaka said. He was very determined to execute. “Those are special moments”. He has 18 on the season, three in the last two days. It was the only time the Yankees were able to score in the game. Then August hit and it all went down the toilet. Overall, he allowed five runs on 14 hits, struck out 36 batters and walked only five for a 1.55 ERA. Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to pitch for New York.

David Ortiz’s RBI single in the third gave him 105 RBIs, his most since 2007. After working Shaw inside and out to run the count full, Tanaka finally came over the plate with a splitter, and it was an ugly one, hanging up on a tee for Shaw to crush it to right for a 3-run shot. “He looked like a guy who hadn’t pitched in 12 days and hadn’t pitched a lot“.

A couple innings later, the offense got going again.

Betts smacked a 2-0, 96 miles per hour fastball from Betances over the center field wall. He is 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA in his Red Sox career, spanning the three dominant starts and 40 relief appearances. With one out, A-Rod worked a walk and Carlos Beltran drilled a ground-rule double to trim the deficit to 4-2. Chris Young followed with an RBI single.

The bases were loaded and it wasn’t Eduardo Rodriguez’s fault.

Tanaka had an easy one-two-three second inning.

Wade Miley had a pretty rough start to the season but he’s progressed for better. A 4.47 ERA, an 11-11 record. Mookie Betts broke that up with a first-pitch homer to lead off the fifth.

“I’ve never given up home runs like this before”.

The Sox tied the game in the seventh when Betts homered to left field off Dellin Betances. Girardi is out of excuses, but what else can he say because Tanaka in the end becomes his only and best option for Tuesday night and a normal work schedule hopefully will get the righthander back on track.

Betts is finishing strong. Streve gave up another hit to Pedroia, which ended his evening and brought another Yankee reliever into the game.