ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Aaron Boone has yet to decide on a starter for the AL wild card, but he'd already named his catcher.
Despite leading the league again in passed balls, coupled with a .180 batting average, Gary Sanchez is Boone's choice to start the Oct. 3 play-in game against Oakland.
It's a point the Yankees manager drove home without hesitation last weekend, backed by general manager Brian Cashman.
Only, that argument hadn't been supported by much recent evidence _ until Tuesday night.
Sanchez belted a three-run homer during a four-RBI night, pushing the Yankees to a 9-2 win over the Rays before 10,953 fans at Tropicana Field.
Miguel Andujar furthered his Rookie of the Year argument with his 26th homer of the year, on a night when Neil Walker and Brett Gardner each tripled.
Sanchez's mammoth drive to left punctuated a seven-run third inning, as the Yankees lowered their magic number to three for the right to host the must-win wild-card game.
And just as importantly, Sanchez caught a clean game, with no mix-ups in receiving Luis Severino (19-8) _ who is still struggling to make his best argument to start the wild-card game over J.A. Happ or Masahiro Tanaka.
Yet, if there was ever a time for a booster shot of confidence for Sanchez, this was it.
"Confidence is powerful in this game," Boone said before the game, with the regular season finish line in sight, Sunday at Boston. "This game will humble you."
Yet, Boone believes there's always a baseline confidence within Sanchez, "because he knows what a special hitter he can be."
Coming off an 0-for-4 night on Monday, with two more passed balls, Sanchez was in a 1-for-28 slide with 13 strikeouts before he destroyed lefty reliever Jalen Beeks' 3-and-1 pitch.
"I still like the work he's putting in behind the scenes," Boone said before the game, speaking of Sanchez's dedication to both hitting and defense. "I think everything's there in place for him to take off.
"He's just got to get some results and just kind of let it go."
Following his first homer since Sept. 10, Sanchez lashed an RBI single to left in the fifth, giving the Yankees an 8-2 lead. He walked in his final trip to the plate.
Having observed a hitter who has pressed and chased results by chasing pitches out of the zone, "I'm still confident he can do that at a high level for us this season," Boone said of Sanchez locating his rhythm and timing before October.
Ten Yankees came to bat in the third, starting with Adeiny Hechavarria's leadoff homer against right-hander Jake Faria (4-4), whose final pitch produced a hold-your-breath moment.
Aaron Judge's head-high line drive _ with an exit velocity of 108.5 mph _ was snared by Faria for the inning's first out. Judge had barely taken a step out of the batter's box.
A Luke Voit RBI double, a bases-loaded walk by Neil Walker and a sacrifice fly by Miguel Andujar preceded Sanchez's 17th homer this season, and his first game with more than two RBI since June 15.
Yet, the long inning might have affected Severino's rhythm.
Severino loaded the bases to start the Rays' half of the third (double, hit-by-pitch, walk) and caught a break when ex-Yankee Ji-Man Choi was nailed at home plate, trying to score on Brandon Lowe's two-run double to right.
For his troubles, Choi exited the game with concussion-like symptoms and received stitches to close a gash to his left ear.
Severino was charged with those two runs on four hits in five innings, with three walks and seven strikeouts.
But it was a significant improvement from July 23, the last time Severino and Sanchez were paired at Tropicana Field.
In that game, miscommunication between pitcher and catcher contributed to a season-high seven runs (six earned) scored off Severino.
Miscommunication and issues with signs on Sept. 6 at Oakland became another low point for the Severino-Sanchez pairing, during an ugly first inning that included two wild pitches and two passed balls.
