And so on to the roadtrip. Left behind in New York City, I will give you shorter accounts of each day…

(September 12th) Luis Gil had an excellent day pitching six innings for no hits and four walks. He didn’t concede a run. Fernando Cruz struggled a little (1 hit, 1 walk, 1 run, 3 strikeouts). Devin Williams was more solid then in most of his appearances (1 inning, 1 hit, 1 strikeout) and David Bednar was again excellent (two strikeouts, in a faultless inning).

On the offensive side, Aaron Judge opened the scoring with a home run, Caballero had a double, and there were singles for Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr (2), Ryan McMahon, Ben Rice (2), and Giancarlo Stanton.

The Yankees swept the Boston Red Sox to one side quite easily. They dominated. 4-1.

(September 13th) 2nd game against the old enemy, the Boston Red Sox, Max Fried wasn’t on his “A” game. He pitched 5.1 innings but gave up 9 hits, and 2 walks which led to him conceding 2 runs. He did however, do enough to take the win. Strong relief performances came from Luke Weaver, Devin Williams, and David Bednar. Fernando Cruz struggled again giving up a homer to pinch-hitter Jarren Duran in the 8th, which was the closest the Yankees came to allowing Boston to creep back into this one. Jazz Chisholm Jr hit a homer in the fifth and two singles, Cody Bellinger hit a double, a single and a sacrifice fly. Jose Caballero and Ben Rice both hit doubles. Aaron Judge had two singles.

The Yankees took the game 5-3 with Fried adding his 17th win and Bednar his 24th save.

(September 14th) Well, the Yankees had already taken the first two from the Boston Red Sox, but it was always going to be unlikely that they would complete the sweep. And when Will Warren struggled (he gave up six runs in the first inning) this looked that was indeed going to be the case. Warren improved and gave up 6 runs, in 5 innings on 10 hits. Camilo Doval did well in following him to the mound, and Mark Leiter Jr (who is now, I think, going to be used less often in likely winning situations) and mop-up man Paul Blackburn pitched tidily if never overwhelmingly. Amed Rosario, Aaron Judge and Jose Caballero all hit homers but the Yankees never looked likely to challenge the lead that Boston had established. Judge also added a single to his homer and Rice hit a double, but at the end of everything it was still 6-4 to Boston.

(September 15th) Carlos Rodon was this evening’s starter, in another weak performance for the New York Yankees. Rodon started well. He finished up giving up 5 hits and a walk in six innings, resulting in two earned runs conceded. He was followed to the mound by Luke Weaver who was mauled by the Minnesota batters. The Twins took him for 5 runs from three hits and two walks. He only achieved one out. This is his second poor performance in recent outings. Next reliever was Camilo Doval who had two outs and gave up one hit. By this time it was all over, but Tim Hill finished the game out, pitching one inning and adding a 5th strikeout to the New York total (the other four had been Rodon’s).

All-in-all, the Twins scored 7 while New York scored zero and achieved only 2 hits. Yes, this was really that one sided. Jose Caballero hit a double, Paul Goldschmidt a single.

First blood to the Minnesota Twins, 7-0.

(September 16th) The game on the 15th was a strange one, if anything the game on the 16th was weirder. The Yankees took a 10-1 lead in 4 innings – what could go wrong? Cam Schlittler struggled his way to 4 2/3 innnings and fell apart in the 5th to conclude with 3 hits, 5 walks and 4 earned runs. Still the Yankees led 10-4, things were safe and tidy weren’t they? Especially, when Fernando Cruz came on for a brief appearance to get the final out of the fifth, without any trouble. But then the usually solid Ryan Yarbrough gave up 4 runs and achieved only one out. 10-8.. Mark Leiter Jr who has been poor recently then came to the rescue pitching 1 2/3 innings and conceding only one hit. He was followed then by Devin Williams who has been inconsistent and usually poor also. He struck out two and achieved a clean inning. David Bednar who is usually solider than solid gave up a home run in the ninth. 10-9.

The batters who achieved those ten runs were led by Trent Grisham (homer and a single), Ben Rice (2 singles, and a double), Austin Wells (double and a single), Anthony Volpe (double and a single), Jazz Chisholm Jr (2 singles) and Giancarlo Stanton (2 singles). The batters were excellent, the pitchers weren’t.

The Yankees hung on to win 10-9 and tie the series.

(September 17th) Somehow or other, the Yankees managed to make a struggle of a 10-1 lead in the previous game finishing at 10-9. This game was a little more straightforward. Luis Gil was their starting pitcher, and was not at his best. He only managed 4 2/3 innings and gsve up 5 runs (4 earned) 0n 9 hits and 2 walks. He also made a fielding error. Fernando Cruz was next to the mound, pitching 1.1 flawless innings. Devin Williams also had 1 inning, giving up a hit, but striking out three. Luke Weaver pitched the 8th, again giving up a solitary hit. The 9th saw Camilo Doval pitch. He again was strong and stuck out two.

On the batting side of the account, Trent Grisham was the major contributor with a homer in the third off off Taj Bradley and another off the same pitcher in the next inning, this time with two runners on base. Cody Bellinger hit a home run and a single. Aaron Judge had a double, two singles and a stolen base. Paul Goldschmidt chipped in with a double and a single. Jasson Dominguez, who is not frequently in the starting line-up at the moment, contributed a double, and 2 stolen bases. Ben Rice also had a double.

The Yankees dominated throughout going 7-2 up in the fourth, and finishing with a 10-5 win. They now have two straight wins over Minnesota and two straight 10 run games. They take the series 2-1 and now move on to Baltimore.

(September 18th) The Yankees didn’t score as many runs in this evening game at Oriole Park, Camden Yards – but then again because of a sterling performance from Max Fried, they didn’t need to. He pitched a shutout 7 innings, giving up only 3 hits and 1 walk, and an overwhelming 13 strikeouts. Paul Blackburn came in after the game was safe as he often does. He doesn’t just eat up the innings at the end of losses. He pitched 2 innings. There was a walk, but also two strikeouts.

Nobody managed to hit a home run tonight, but Amed Rosario, Jazz Chisholm Jr, Anthony Volpe and Giancarlo Stanton all had doubles. Volpe also added in a stolen base. We saw a different side of the Yankees’ game with Paul Goldschmidt, and Austin Wells having 2 singles each. Wells also had a walk. Jose Cabellero had 2 walks and a single which led to much of his mischief on the basepaths – although he wasn’t always successful in this regard.

Yankees took this one 7-0.

(September 19th) The second game in tis series against the Baltimore Orioles and clumsy fielding and poor pitching cost the Yankees dearly. Will Warren gave up 3 runs (only 1 earned) across 5 1/3 innings pitched. His error and an error by Jazz Chisholm Jr added to the problems. He gave up 4 hits (including a home run to Ryan Mountcastle) and 2 walks. The New York relievers did what they could to allow the batters to restore the equilibrium, but it never looked likely to happen. Fernando Cruz and Camilo Doval both pitched well. Tim Hill struggled massively, only getting one out and giving up 2 hits which led to one more run scoring. Mark Leiter Jr closed things out in an appearance which was indicative of the uneven way he has ben pitching recently.

Jazz Chisholm Jr gave the Yankees their only extra base hit of the game. His hit needs to be balanced, though, against the already mentioned fielding error. This was not a good night for the Yankees. A 4-2 loss.

(September 20th) And so to game 3. The Yankees had Carlos Rodon on the mound and really that proved to be the end of the conversation between these two clubs today. It showed why one of these team will be in the playoffs and the other won’t. After Rodon had pitched 7 innings for 1 run (4 hits, 1 walk), the bullpen provided Luke Weaver and then David Bednar who were both exemplary. Neither gave up a hit, neither gave up a walk and consequently there were no runs to provide any means for Baltimore to find their way back into this one.

On the offensive side, Aaon Judge had a home run and a single. Team-mate Giancarlo Stanton added another 4-bagger. Trent Grisham and Anthony Volpe had two singles each. Volpe used his pace to add in a stolen base as did Cody Bellinger who also had a single. Sublime.

Only one team in it. 6-1.

(September 21st) It is good that this one was an afternoon game, otherwise I would have felt like I was dreaming as I was keeping up with the detail from my New York Ciy base.

The Orioles took a one-nothing lead in the 5th. The Yankees tied it at one-one in the top of the sixth, and then the pitchers continued to dominate.

For the Yankees, it was Cam Schlittler who was doing just great for just over five innings, but then began to struggle in the sixth, giving up a homer to Samuel Basallo. Kyle Bradish for the Baltimore team was good for about the same length of time, maybe a little longer. In the sixth, he gave up a hit, a walk and a hit by pitch. These collectively moved Trent Grisham over home plate to tie the score, as mentioned.

In relief for the Yankees, Tim Hill pitched a great inning, but then Fernando Cruz struggled only getting one batter out, and giving up a walk and a single before Luke Weaver came on to take his place. Weaver also wasn’t at his sharpest but got the Yankees out of the 7th. Things began to go wrong for Baltimore in the 8th. There was a double for Ben Rice, an overturned call which gave Dominguez a single, a wild pitch from the former Yankee, Rico Garcia and an intentional walk to Jazz Chisholm Jr. But somehow the Yankees still didn’t score.

Devin Williams pitched a solid 8th. And after a difficult 9th for David Bednar, the game went into extras – and once more Baltimore fell apart – but this time they couldn’t prevent the Yankees from scoring. With Trent Grisham as the “ghost” runner, there was a walk for Aaron Judge and a single for Cody Bellinger. This meant the bases were loaded and Ben Rice launched one to right centerfield for a grand slam. A further homer came from Jazz Chisholm Jr and then there was a double for Jose Caballero, a walk for Paul Goldschmidt, and a single for Anthony Volpe (which scored Caballero). There was a further wild pitch, but the Yankees could not advance from this – hey, we can’t expect them to take all their chances.

Camilo Doval replaced Bednar but despite giving up two walks, there was not even to be a consolation run for the Orioles. For a few brief moments it had looked like they had a good chance of tieing this four game series, but in the end this one finished in extras by the amazing score of 7-1

(September 22nd) And even the Lord took a day off from his work of creation, so on the 22nd the Yankees travelled back to the Bronx where they would play the Chicago White Sox – and then face the Baltimore Orioles again…