And so, the Yankees had moved into the last series of the regular season as they faced the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore were 75-84 and bottom of the division, compared to the Yankees who were 91-68. The Yankees therefore had more to worry about – specifically what was happening in Toronto.

There, Toronto would face the Tampa Bay Rays for three consecutive games and the Yankees knew that if the Blue Jays should win all of those games then because Toronto had won the lion’s share of the games between the Blue Jays and New York then it would just be as though Toronto had won the division.

They would take the “bye” through the first round of the playoffs.

Starting at 7:10, Will Warren took the mound for the Yankees and the Orioles had Jackson Holliday at the head of their batting line up. Holliday hit a liner to rightfield which was cleanly taken by Aaron Judge for the first out and then Jordan Westburg was struck out swinging by Warren on three pitches and all the evidence suggested that this was going to be an evening of sweet dominance for New York. It took a little longer for Warren to deal with Gunnar Henderson (6 pitches), but in the end the result was the same – he struck out swinging.

It was very much an unusual choice tonight as the Yankees, ringing the changes, had put Paul Goldschmidt (first base) at the head of their batting as they gave Trent Grisham most of the night off. The first two Yankees didn’t help the New York cause with the aforementioned Goldschmidt hitting a flyout to leftfield and Aaron Judge getting himself called out on strikes. Trevor Rogers seemed to have everything smoothly under control.

But the Orioles have all season developing a way of creating their own problems and so they walked Cody Bellinger with those two outs on the board. It was then that Giancarlo Stanton, who has begun to rebound from his slump, hit a homer over the fence in right centerfield to make it 2-0 to New York.

Another surprising choice then, Amed Rosario replacing Ryan McMahon at third base struck out swinging.

In the second, Baltimore still had nothing positive to offer in the batting column… but then after that neither did the Yankees. For the Orioles, Tyler O’Neill hit a flyout to left, as did Dylan Beavers. The third out was provided by Adley Rutschman who gave Warren his third strikeout of the evening by swinging wildly. If there was a glimmer of a chance that New York might extend their lead, it came when Austin Slater (leftfield, tonight) was gifted first base on a throwing error by Westburg on what should have been a simple play. Anyway, it was all to come to nothing when following an Anthony Volpe lineout, Austin Wells hit into a 6-6-3 doubleplay.

So, the Yankees still had the ascendancy as we headed into the third, but it was all about to change. Even more surprisingly everything began to change after the dominant (until this point!) Warren had two outs on the board. First, he’d had Colton Cowser hit a simple groundball, which was turned into an equally simple out by Goldschmidt, who tossed the ball back to Warren himself to complete the out. The second out was Samuel Basallo who hit a flyout, but then Cody Mayo hit a single which was clumsily deflected by Volpe. The pitcher then gave up a walk to Holliday on six pitches, but even then all didn’t seem lost. However, no-one was expecting the line drive which came from the bat of Westburg. It cleared the wall in leftfield and Baltimore had a slim lead. 3-2.

It did look like there might be more to come when Warren gve up a single to Henderson and then the Orioles shortstop took the opportunity to steal second base. The Orioles couldn’t build on the situation though when O’Neill was called out on strikes. The calls were borderline, but they were enough to allow the pitcher to escape to the dugout and work on gathering himself.

The Yankees line-up tonight was resplendent with players who usually sit most of the game on the bench. Next up was second baseman, Jose Caballero. Getting Caballero on base is always a huge advantage, and the sneak-thief was soon there, gifted first base on a walk by Martin. The pitcher did momentarily bounce back when Goldschmidt hit a limp fly out to leftfield which Beavers gathered easily, but the relief was short-lived as Judge hit his 52nd homer toward the fans in leftfield. 4-3 to NYY.

The pattern of walk followed by homerun seemed an effective one, and so the Yankees tried for more of the same. Bellinger patiently took his walk and then Stanton hit his second homer of the night to make it 6-3.

Thr inning didn’t go any further. Rosario grounded out 5-3 and Slater struck out swinging. But let’s face it 3 runs ahead is an infinite improvement on one run behind.

In the 4th, the Orioles did give themselves a chance to get back into it, but it came with two outs. Beavers had struck out swinging and Rutschman had hit a looping ball into foul territory on the third base side which Rosario gathered with no complications before Cowser hit a double into centerfield, but the slim opportunity was soon lost as Basallo was called out on strikes.

So, it seemed that the Orioles needed to try something different and they brought in reliever Colin Selby and Dylan Carlson in leftfield. And it seemed to work.

Volpe hit a flyout to Cowser, Wells struck out swinging and looked rather stranded at judging the flight of the new relievers’ pitches. Third out was Caballero who followed Volpe hitting a flyball to Cowser.

The Orioles though didn’t look likely to advance in offensive matters. Mayo struck out swinging and Holliday hit a flyout to Slater. Then despite a single from Westburg, the Baltimore half of the inning ended on a flyout to Bellinger, from Henderson. It seemed clear that despite what had seemed a disastrous third inning for Warren, he had settled right back into his groove.

In the bottom half of the fifth, Goldschmidt who was great in the field but struggling with the bat, hit a grounder to Westburg at third who threw over to Mayo to bring the out. Second out was Judge who struck out swinging and though a single from Bellinger suggested there was a possibility of something in the making, it was Stanton who this couldn’t produce and hit a flyout to rightfield.

In the 6th, surprisingly, there was a change in the direction of things as O’Neill hit a flyball homer into right centerfield. 6-4

Having seen Warren stumble once, the Yankees decided now was probably time to make a change. Another surprise was they chose that the reliever should be Mark Leiter Jr, who has had more than his fair share of struggles recently. And so, we held our breath, but Goldschmidt who had been solid in the field all night made an error which allowed Carlson to arrive at first. That wasn’t Leiter’s fault, but he was responsible for walking Rutschman and it looked like things might be about to turn ugly with two runners on and nobody out.

Cowser managed to make things a little more difficult and a little easier if that makes any sense. His groundout allowed both runners to advance. Second and third – one out.

Leiter’s most memorable moment was getting Basallo to strikeout but when he walked Mayo, that was somewhat undone. Bases loaded and Leiter headed back to the dugout with Aaron Boone claiming the ball to pass to Tim Hill. Hill closed it all down when he got Holliday to groundout to Goldschmidt.

The Orioles were the next to make a pitching change when they brought in Yennier Cano to open the bottom of the 6th. The Yankees sought to balance the move by bringing in Grisham for Rosario. And it worked. Grisham hit a single to O’Neill in right and the Yankees brought in another pinch-hitter with Jazz Chisholm Jr entering for Slater. He only struck out swinging but at least one of those two changes had worked. Volpe who hadn’t the best of nights then hit a single on a pop up which allowed him to get to first and move Grisham to second. It was Grisham who was able to score score when Wells hit a ground ball into rightfield for a single. 7-4.

Volpe decided to take his fate clumsily into his own hands, when he sought to try and steal home. He wasn’t succesful. The energy dissipated quickly and a soft ground out from Caballero meant it was time for the teams to change around one more.

The Yankees decided to shuffle their defensive pieces with Grisham (Centerfield) and Chisholm (second base) remaining in the game. This meant that Bellinger was switched to left and Caballero was moved to third.

Chisholm made a good start to his defensive work gathering up grounders from Westburg and Henderson. He tossed both over to Goldschmidt and by the time Fernando Cruz was brought into replace Hill, there were two outs and no-one on.

Even so, Cruz didn’t make it easy for himself. He walked O’Neill on 4 pitches and Carlson on 6 and when Rutschman came up, things were beginning to look more than a little shaky. And when the Baltimore catcher lofted one into leftfield, trouble was sensed. Thankfully, it fell short and Bellinger caught it cleanly.

Goldschmidt had a mixed evening, but he produced a single in the seventh which was followed by a walk for Judge. A pitching change was made to try to shore matters up, but Jose Castillo gave up a single to the first batter he faced, Cody Bellinger. This meant that the bases were loaded. Stanton’s ground out (5-3) meant Goldschmidt scored and Judge and Bellinger both moved up. 8-4.

Grisham was walked and the bases were loaded but then I guess we are used to seeing at the top of the line up with real punch to follow. There was no such thing tonight. Grisham grounded into a force out which meant Judge was out at home. Then it was a simple matter to get Volpe to pop out and end the 7th.

In the 8th, Camilo Doval took the mound and excelled. He got all three batters he faced – Cowser, Basallo, and Mayo – to strike out swinging.

The Yankees seemed unlikely to let Baltimore back into this one and despite going hitless in their half of the inning, they did not. Wells had struck out swinging, Caballero had lined out, and Goldschmidt hit a flyout. And then the call to the bullpen brought David Bednar on once more. Normally, this means that everything is done, but Bednar was pitching on consecutive nights and he wasn’t quite at his sharpest.

First, he walked Holliday and then gave up a single to Westburg. Then Henderson hit a ground ball force out to Chisholm. This moved Holliday up to third and Henderson to be safe at first, but Westburg was out. When O’Neill struck out swinging, it very much seemed that the Yankees were back on top, but these Orioles don’t always lie down. They decided they had nothing to lose and would roll the dice one more time. They brought on Jeremiah Jackson and when Henderson took off for second, he was treated with indifference. But by now, Bednar had gathered all his arsenal and Jackson struck out swinging for the third out. Another win for the Yankees.

However even as Frank sang, we knew that everything depended on that all vital Toronto score – which proved to be a 4-2 win for the Blue JaysBob Dylan Articles.

Only two games to go…