The team with the best record in baseball since July 17 met the team with the worst record all season on Friday night in The Bronx.
Naturally, it turned into a nailbiter — as is the Yankees’ custom.
But even after falling behind in the top of the 10th inning, the Yankees came back to tie it and then win it in the 11th as Giancarlo Stanton delivered a walk-off single for a 4-3 win over the Orioles.
The red-hot Stanton wasted no time in the bottom of the 11th, smoking a single up the middle off right-hander Dillon Tate to score automatic runner Aaron Judge from second base.
Stanton, who had crushed a solo homer earlier in the night, continued his recent tear. He is now batting .343 (34-for-99) with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs over his last 27 games, coinciding with the Yankees’ surge.
“Helping us win, putting up some good numbers at the same time, it’s huge,” Stanton said. “But most important is the wins.”
Clay Holmes had worked the top of the 11th for the Yankees (78-56) and quickly put runners on the corners with no outs. But he escaped with the tie intact by getting a pop-up, a fly out shallow enough to right field and a strikeout.
Friday marked the Yankees’ 76th game this season decided by two runs or fewer — tying the Mets for the most in the majors — and they improved to an MLB-best 49-27.
“We’re comfortable in those spots,” manager Aaron Boone said. “No matter how tight the situation, how close the game is, win or lose, I know our guys aren’t going to melt, aren’t going to be phased by anything. So that’s comforting.
“That said, we’d like to pull away a little bit every now and then. But it is nice that in those close games, our guys seem to play their best.”
The Yankees were unable to pick up any ground on the Rays, however, as the AL East leaders continued to pump out wins with a 5-3 victory over the Twins.
The Orioles (41-92) broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th off Wandy Peralta on Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI single. But DJ LeMahieu tied it in the bottom of the inning with a single through the right side, as Tyler Wade came flying around from second to score. LeMahieu got to third with one out, but was stranded there when Joey Gallo popped up and Judge grounded out.
Orioles lefty starter John Means held the Yankees hitless until there were two outs in the fourth inning, when Stanton changed that in a big way. The right fielder crushed a 424-foot solo shot, his eighth home run in the last 14 games, to put the Yankees up 1-0.
“He’s hot right now,” said Nestor Cortes Jr., who gave up just one run over 5 ²/₃ innings. “He’s scary when he comes up to the plate, everybody knows it, the whole world knows it. You leave him a cookie, he’s going to do damage.”
The Yankees made it 2-0 in the fifth on LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly.
Cortes was strong through five scoreless innings, scattering just three singles, but Trey Mancini took him deep in the sixth for a solo home run to get the Orioles within 2-1. Mancini’s blast knocked Cortes out of the game after he had allowed four hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Former Yankees prospect Jorge Mateo tied it an inning later off Jonathan Loaisiga, crushing a solo shot to left field. It was the first home run Loaisiga has allowed since May 7 and only the third all season, across 68 innings.
But Stanton ultimately finished what he started to send the Yankees to their latest win.
“He’s a freak of nature and he comes up big-time in those spots,” Wade said. “Big night for him and it was a big win for us.”