After clinching the American League East title, the only remaining items for the New York Yankees to check off are attempting to secure the best record in the AL and seeing how many more homers Aaron Judge can hit.
A day after celebrating their third division title under manager Aaron Boone and seeing Judge tie a career high by homering for the fifth straight game, the Yankees host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of their regular-season series on Friday.
The Yankees (93-66) lead the Cleveland Guardians by one game in the race for the best AL record. New York won four of the teams’ six meetings and would win the tiebreaker should the teams finish level.
New York secured its division title on Thursday when it pulled away for a 10-1 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees took the AL East lead for good on Sept. 7 and they have 10 wins in their past 14 games after getting big nights from Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the division clincher.
Judge upped his major-league-leading total to 58 long balls with a two-run shot, and he has seven in his past 12 games. Stanton homered in the second inning, and he highlighted a six-run sixth with a bases-clearing double.
Boone said, after the Yankees finished celebrating in the clubhouse, that the team is eager to secure home-field advantage in the playoffs.
He added, “That said, I’m going to make sure I get guys a day here. I feel like we got to do it, but we’ll be playing to win.”
The Pirates (74-85) are 19-33 since July 30, when they were three games over .500. Pittsburgh also has lost nine of 13 since winning four straight from Sept. 8-11. In that 13-game span, the Pirates were held to three runs or fewer 11 times.
The latest instance was a 5-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s home finale. The Pirates were blanked until Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Oneil Cruz went 0-for-4 and also committed a pair of baserunning miscues as the Pirates were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“He’s got to be more aware,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Cruz. “It’s unacceptable.”
After Gerrit Cole pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball for New York on Thursday, Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.98 ERA) will attempt to become the first Yankee left-hander to win 17 games since CC Sabathia went 19-8 in 2011. Rodon is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts this month and 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 11 starts since the All-Star break.
Rodon last pitched in New York’s 10-0 win at Oakland on Saturday. He allowed five hits in six innings, logging his fifth scoreless outing this season.
Rodon is 3-2 with a 3.99 ERA in five career starts against the Pirates.
Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14 ERA) hopes to end his rookie season on a positive note and get his first road win in more than four months. Jones has lost his past three road decisions since May 16.
In five starts since returning on Aug. 27 after missing eight weeks due to a lat strain, he is 1-2 with a 6.15 ERA.
Jones last pitched in a 7-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, when he allowed six runs on six hits in five innings.
