The Yankees have found themselves in a situation where they need to win a series off the bat in September to pull themselves out of a tailspin. They didn’t get off to the start they wanted though, turning a close deficit into a full-blown beatdown by the hand of the Rays. That means the division lead is down to just five games, and the Wild Card cushion continues to be threatened as well.
Speaking off, let’s see what the rest of the field did. Spoiler alert: They did not help!
Sending Pittsburgh up against Alek Manoah was a mismatch to begin with, and the Blue Jays capitalized on it as much as they could.