NEW YORK — Each at-bat seems to carry the weight of October at this stage of the season, and that’s how it felt as Giancarlo Stanton came to bat in the fifth inning on Thursday, the bases full of Yankees and his teammates’ eyes half-fixed on the out-of-town scoreboard.
Stanton scorched a three-run double down the third-base line that put the Yankees ahead in their 5-3 victory over the White Sox at Yankee Stadium, helping complete a three-game sweep of Chicago in the penultimate series of the regular season.
New York (91-68) has won five straight in improving to a season-high 23 games above .500, keeping pace with the Blue Jays atop the American League East, with Toronto defeating the Red Sox at Rogers Centre.
The clubs are even with three games remaining; the Blue Jays retain a tiebreaker. And the AL East champ is now assured of a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the ALDS. The Yankees benefited from that bye last year on their path to the World Series; they’d love to have it again.
“The bye is always good,” Stanton said. “You’ve got guys that are beat up, that need a rest, a little mental break before how heavy those games can get. It’s ideal.”
Ben Rice’s first-inning RBI groundout facing Davis Martin and Stanton’s 109 mph knock off reliever Tyler Gilbert — which handcuffed Chicago third baseman Curtis Mead — supported Carlos Rodón, who limited the White Sox to three runs and four hits over six innings, exiting in line for his career-high 18th victory.
“It was good enough. I just tried to attack the zone,” Rodón said. “There’s a couple of pitches I’d like back, but I’m happy with the win. I can’t be upset.”
Rodón’s next outing will come in a Game 2 at Yankee Stadium, though it remains to be seen whether that’s in the AL Wild Card Series or the AL Division Series.
Tagged for a Michael A. Taylor two-run homer in the fourth inning, Rodón struck out five, including his second-inning punchout of Derek Hill, which made him just the sixth left-hander in franchise history to reach the 200-strikeout plateau.
Rodón wrapped the regular season with 203 strikeouts, the second-highest total of his career (237 for the Giants in 2022).
Manager Aaron Boone frequently quips that Rodón’s mantra is to keep “chopping wood,” and he said Thursday that the hurler “has built himself quite a fire now.” Rodón finished the season 7-2 with a 2.52 ERA over his final 10 outings and heads into the playoffs with a 3.09 ERA in 33 starts, his best campaign to date with New York.
“It’s kind of hard to think about now, because we’ve got some pretty important games coming up, but it was good,” Rodón said. “I’m just glad I was able to go out there and post every five or six days, compete and try to win every game.”
Aaron Judge was intentionally walked twice in the contest, his 35th and 36th free passes, to establish a new AL record. The previous mark belonged to Ted Williams (34 in 1957), with intentional walks first officially tracked in 1955.
Austin Wells added a run-scoring double in the seventh to provide insurance, with Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and David Bednar each throwing a scoreless frame in relief.
“The bullpen has really stepped up lately and hung some zeroes,” Rodón said. “Hopefully we keep that going.”
Though it may be overshadowed by some of his teammates, Wells has been swinging the bat well into late September, collecting nine hits in 20 at-bats (.450) over his past eight games.
“It feels pretty good,” Wells said. “I’m just trying to put the ball in play and trying not to hit it where they’re at. For me, I feel like it’s been working a little bit better than it did over the beginning of the year. I’m rolling with it.”
The math forecasts an uphill, but not impossible, climb for the Yanks. Of course, they will keep close watch on how the Blue Jays fare against the Rays, but they also understand they cannot look past an Orioles team that has more talent than its 75-84 record would indicate — especially with tough lefty Trevor Rogers taking the ball on Friday evening.
“They’re always a threat,” Stanton said. “We know we’ve got to go out and play well, execute and play good baseball.”
