NEW YORK _ The nip in the air and the product on the field spelled one thing and one thing only: October baseball is coming, and the Yankees are ready.
Behind a stellar performance by CC Sabathia and another monster home run by Aaron Judge, the Yankees held on Saturday to defeat the Blue Jays, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. It's their ninth win in 12 games, but their hopes for forcing a one-game playoff for the East title were dashed shortly after the game, when Boston defeated Houston, 6-3.
Judge got the scoring going in the loudest of fashions. Leading off the fourth, he blasted Marcus Stroman's 93-mph fastball all the way to the back wall in left, onto the concourse. Statcast measured the home run at 484 feet, making it the fourth-longest home run of 2017. Didi Gregorius followed with a one-out single to left, moved to second on a wild pitch, and then came home on Starlin Castro's single up the middle, good for the 2-0 advantage.
The Blue Jays cut the lead in half in the eighth, when Josh Donaldson scored Ezequiel Carrera on a sacrifice fly. But David Robertson _ who replaced Tommy Kahnle with two on and no outs _ struck out Josh Smoak with the tying run at second to end the inning.
Sabathia, meanwhile, did everything he was asked and more. He allowed no runs on three hits in 52/3 innings, and faced the minimum through four. He was the beneficiary of two double plays, and the Blue Jays only threatened against him in the sixth, when Ryan Goins hit a ball to deep right that was snagged by a fan a few inches from the lip of the wall. The play was ruled fan interference and Goins was awarded a double. Sabathia threw 75 pitches, struck out six, walked none, and was pulled for Chad Green after the Red Sox had staked a substantial lead over the Astros, essentially ending the Yankees' division hopes.
At 37, Sabathia (14-5) ended the regular season with a 3.69 ERA _ his lowest season ERA since his last All-Star year in 2012.
