Game 152. Successful Seve return as Yanks shutout Angels, 8-0. Betances tears Achilles, done for season. Torres hits #38; Magic # 1.

Good and bad news healthwise. Stanton to be activated today or Thursday. Encarnacion feels like he’ll be back. Now, no news yet on Sanchez, but

tonight, Luis Severino finally came back off of injury and in his season debut pitched four scoreless innings as the Yanks (99-53) beat the Angels, 8-0.

We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and how he comes through this. But very encouraging.

The magic # is 1 to make the playoffs, and also is 1 to win the AL East. Houston won so the Yanks remain tied with Houston for best record in the AL (Houston has the tiebreaker). The Dodgers are one game behind both the Yanks and Houston (Yanks hold tiebreaker over LA). The Yanks have a 10 game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East with 10 games to go.

The bad news is that Dellin Betances is done for the year with a partially torn Achilles tendon.  He is a free agent after the season, and a bad year to miss the whole year. We’ll see what happens in the wintertime.

The Yanks got two runs in the second inning when Gleyber Torres singled and Luke Voit walked. One out later, Gio Urshela singled in one run and then Cameron Maybin doubled in another to put the Yanks up 2-0.

They broke the game open with six runs in the fourth. With one out, Urshela singled. Cameron Maybin singled, then after another out, all six runs scored with one out. D.J. LeMahieu singled in a run to make it 3-0. Aaron Judge walked to load the bases. Didi Gregorius doubled in two runs to make it 5-0. Torres then hit a 3-run HR (38) to cap things off at 8-0.

LeMahieu 2 hits, RBI  .329
Gregorius 2 RBI
Torres 2 hits, 3 RBI; 3-run HR (38)
Urshela 2 hits, RBI.  .328
Maybin 2 hits, RBI

Severino 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 W, 4 K.  0.00
Loaisiga (W, 2-1, 4.23) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K
Tarpley 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 4 K.  7.71
Gearrin 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.  4.18
Adams 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.  7.20

In the race for the new team MLB record, the Twins have 289, the Yankees 287. The Twins have played one less game.

UPDATE: Breyvic Valera was DFA’d.

UPDATE 2: From the NY Post.

The Yankees have let go of five minor league staff members.

According to minor league head Kevin Reese, the team didn’t renew the contracts of hitting coordinator Edwar Gonzalez, field coordinator Jody Reed, pitching coordinator Scott Aldred, Trenton hitting coach Ty Hawkins and Charleston hitting coach Greg Colbrunn.

Aldred’s departure follows the departure of fellow pitching coordinator Danny Burrell, who left to take the pitching coach job at Georgia Tech.

Hate seeing Aldred go.

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Minor League Report: Trenton wins Eastern League Championship, 3 games to 1, with a 5-2 win.

The Yankees’ AA affiliate, the Trenton Thunder, won the Eastern League Championship over Bowie with a 5-2 win. The win clinches the finals, three games to one for Trenton. Rony Garcia pitched five no-hit innings. Dellin Betances got in rehab work.

1B Chris Gittens 3 hits, RBI. Solo HR.
C Kellin Deglan Solo HR. (Series MVP)
SS Kyle Holder 2 hits.

Rony Garcia (Winner) 5 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 6 K.
Dellin Betances 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Greg Weissert 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Trevor Lane 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Daniel Alvarez 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up 1 HR.

 

 

Minor League Report. Dominating pitching puts Trenton up 2 games to 1 with 2-1 win.

AA Trenton won 2-1 to go up two games to one in the best-of-five Eastern League Championship Series.

Chris Gittens 2 hits, 1 RBI (solo HR).

Clarke Schmidt 4 2/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 W, 9 K.
James Reeves 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Michael King (Win) 4 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 5 K.

Trenton (with Severino) loses 7-2, Series tied at 1. Yanks’ magic # decreases. Ex-Yankee C Charlie Silvera dies.

AA Trenton lost 7-2 to Bowie last night and their Eastern League Championship series is now tied at one game apiece.

Luis Severino, on rehab, started and gave up 4 runs, 3 of them unearned, in 3 2/3 innings of work.

C Kellin Deglan 2 hits, RBI, but an error.

Severino (Loss) 3 2/3 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 W, 4 K
Yajure 4 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 3 W, 6 K.
Kriske 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.

The Yanks (MLB) were rained out and have a DH today (straight old-fashioned DH this afternoon) but their magic #’s did drop. The magic # to clinch the division outright (no tiebreakers) is now 8 over Tampa Bay. They have an 8 1/2 game lead over the Rays with 16 games to go. The magic number just to get into the playoffs is 7.

The Yanks also now have the best record in baseball, by 1/2 game over Houston (Houston has tiebreaker). The Yanks have 1 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers (Yanks have tiebreaker).

Charlie Silvera, Yogi Berra’s backup C in the early 1950s, died at the age of 94 on Sept. 7. Silvera was with the Yankees 1948-1956, and ended his career with the Cubs in 1957. As Yogi’s backup, Silvera never got into more than 58 games in a season, and in most seasons, never even got into 25 games a year. He was, however, one of the few Yankees that was on the team for EACH of the five consecutive WS they won from 1949-1953. He played for the Yankees in six different WS Championship years (1949-1953, 1956).

In 1949, Silvera got his most playing time, playing in 58 games and hitting .315. In the only WS game he played in, he went 0 for 2.

In his ten years in the majors, Silvera only played in 227 games, hitting .282-1-52 in 482 at bats. OPS+ 86. His only MLB HR was hit in the first game of a DH on July 4, 1951 vs. Washington at the old, original Yankee Stadium.

Minor League Report. Trenton wins Game 1 of Eastern League Championship, 6-2.

AA Trenton won Game 1 of the Eastern League Best of 5 Championship Series, 6-2. Trenton won despite making 3 errors and striking out 13x.

Trenton has four major league caliber Yankees there on rehab: Jordan Montgomery, Dellin Betances, Luis Severino and Stephen Tarpley. Montgomery started this game.

C Kellin Deglan 2 hits, 2 RBI
SS Kyle Holder 2 hits, 2 RBI
3B Angel Aguilar 2 hits.

Montgomery 3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K.  Made an error.
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.
Tarpley (Winner) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Reeves (Hold) 2 1/3  IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Weissert (Hold) 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Lane 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.

 

Game 144. Yanks beat Boston 10-5 behind HRs by Gleyber and Judge. Tauchman also HRs, but gets hurt.

Before the game, the Yanks activated Gio Urshela off the IL and brought up Thairo Estrada (who was on rehab), Kyle Higashioka and Breyvic Valera.

The Yanks then beat Boston 10-5 behind Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Mike Tauchman, but Tauchman got hurt during the game.

With the win, the 94-50 Yankees maintain an 8 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay with 18 games to go. The magic # to reach the playoffs is 8 and the magic # to clinch the division is 10.

They remain tied with Houston for the best record in baseball but Houston has the tiebreaker. Both teams are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Dodgers.

In the second inning, Torres gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead with his 35th HR of the season after Edwin Encarnacion singled in front of him.

In the third, Tauchman singled, and D.J. LeMahieu reached on an infield single. Judge singled in a run, sending LeMahieu to third. After Didi Gregorius popped out, Gary Sanchez’ RBI groundout made it 4-0.

Staked to a four-run lead, Masahiro Tanaka couldn’t go five innings for the win. He gave up a two-run HR to Jackie Bradley in the bottom of the third that cut the Yanks’ lead to 4-2.

In the top of the fourth, Torres singled and scored two outs later on a 2-run HR by Tauchman (13) who had to leave the game later with a calf injury. He’ll be getting an MRI. Ugh. 6-2, Yanks.

With two out in the fourth, Tanaka gave up a single and two doubles and that cut the lead to 6-4. Tanaka didn’t come out for the fifth, so couldn’t get the win.

Chad Green was superb in his three innings of scoreless relief and did pick up the W. His ERA of 4.60 doesn’t look good because of those horrendous first three weeks of the season where his ERA was 16.43 and he had to be sent to the minors. Since returning, the ERA is 2.89.

In the fifth, Judge led off the inning with a HR (21) to make it 7-4, then Didi reached on an error. After a walk, Encarnacion singled Didi to third, and Didi scored on an RBI forceout by Torres. 8-4.

Judge’s HR was the Yanks’ 268th of the season, topping the mark set last year when they set a MLB record. They are eight behind the Twins (who set a new record) this season. Could they (or the Twins) hit 300?

Mookie Betts homered in the bottom of the eighth to make it 8-5.

The Yanks scored two in the ninth when Didi walked, and Rafael Devers made two errors on the same play (one fielding, one throwing) to put runners on second and third. Devers had three errors in the game and was saved from a couple others. Encarnacion singled in one run, then Torres doubled in another to make it 10-5, the final score.

Judge 2 hits, 2 RBI, solo HR (21)
Encarnacion 3 hits, RBI
Torres 3 hits, 4 RBI, 2-run HR (35)
Tauchman 2 hits, 2 RBI. 2-run HR (13). Injured, left game.

Tanaka 4 IP, 4 R, 8 H, 0 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR.  4.53
Green (W, 3-4, 4.60) 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 5 K.
Ottavino 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up 1 HR.   1.76
Loaisiga 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.  4.63

In the minors, Trenton (AA) will face Bowie for the Eastern League Championship. The best-of-five series begins in Trenton on Tuesday.

OF/1B Chris Duncan, ex-Cardinal and brother of one-time Yankee Shelley Duncan and son of former MLB catcher and pitching coach Dave Duncan, died of brain cancer
September 6 at the age of 38. He hit 22 HR as a part-time player for the 2006 WS Champion Cardinals and 21 the following year. In 389 MLB games, he hit .257 with 55 HR and an OPS+ of 109. He played for the Cardinals 2005-2009.

Tom Phoebus, RHP, died Sept. 5, age 77. Born in Baltimore, he pitched for his hometown Orioles 1966-1970, and was a part of two WS Champs (1966, 1970) and one AL Pennant winner (1969). He won 14, 15 and 14 games from 1967-1969. His only postseason appearance was in one game during the 1970 WS, where he got the win in Game 2. He pitched for the Padres (1971-1972) and Cubs (1972). His career MLB record was 56-52, 3.33, ERA+ 100.

A DYK: Aaron Boone now has 194 wins (and counting) in his first two seasons as Yankees’ manager. The record? Ralph Houk with 205 (1961 and 1962).

Lastly, a tip of the cap to Brian Cashman’s longevity with the Yankees. Not even a year after winning the World Series, the Red Sox fire Dave Dombrowski.

 

Minor League Report. SWB done after being swept.

AAA: SWB got crushed, 17-2, and as a result, got swept three straight in their playoff series against Durham. Their season is now over.

C Erik Kratz both RBI.

Players I now expect to join the Yankees: C Kyle Higashioka, INF Thairo Estrada, OF Terrance Gore (for pinch-running). I don’t know if they need four catchers, so I don’t know about Kratz.

Top prospect Deivi Garcia had a bad game. 1 IP, 5 R, 2 H, 4 W, 0 K. Gave up 1 HR.

Ben Heller could be called up. 2 scoreless IP, 5 K.

AA: Trenton will play Bowie for the Eastern League title. Game 1 will be at Trenton Tuesday night. There is a possibility Luis Severino, Jordan Montgomery and Dellin Betances will all still be rehabbing for Trenton at that time.