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Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
We though that when the New York Yankees sold off their top trade assets before the deadline that their postseason chances were over. We thought wrong.
The Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Thursday night to get to within two games of the idle Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot in the American League and four games behind the also idle Boston Red Sox in the AL East after Tyler Austin hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Brian McCann had two homers, proof that there are still impact veterans left on the roster.
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Just how hot have the Yankees been? They’re 30-21 since the All-Star break, the second best record over that span in the major leagues after the Chicago Cubs, have won five straight and 11 of their last 15.
Can the Yankees make the postseason? (Getty Images) That’s put them right back in the playoff hunt and with three games this weekend against the last-place Rays they could be in an even better position come Monday morning. It’s given them some reason to be inspired about their present as much as their future.
From MLB.com:
TOP PERFORMERS
Ivan Nova: The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander pitched nine innings of one-run ball, striking out four, in a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. That continues an impressive run for Nova since coming to Pittsburgh in a trade with the Yankees. He’s now 5-0 in six starts with the Pirates with a 2.53 ERA. Another Ray Searage reclamation project success story? We’ll see, but it looks promising so far.
Ryan Howard: The Philadelphia Phillies first baseman doesn’t hit for a high average anymore but he can still hit the ball out of the park, and he showed that with a three-run homer in a 4-1 win over the Washington Nationals. That gives him 21 on the season and 378 for his career. Will he get the opportunity to get to 400? He has one year left on his contract, but the Phillies can buy it out for $10 million.
*MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
A balk is a positive play for a team at the plate, as all base runners move up a base. A home run? Obviously, even better. With a runner at first base and two outs in the fourth inning, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Junior Guerra was called for a balk but still delivered a pitch to St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong.
Guerra would have preferred the balk. Wong smashed the ball deep to right-center for a home run. Unfortunately for Wong and the Cardinals, the Brewers hit three homers of their own in a 12-5 win.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Indians 10, Astros 7: Carlos Santana homered and Francisco Lindor drove in three runs to help Cleveland avoid a sweep against Houston.
Padres 14, Rockies 1: Ryan Schimpf drove in four, three thanks to a home run, as San Diego absolutely crushed Colorado.
Mariners 6, Rangers 3: Kyle Seager picked up three hits, including a home run, and Dae-Ho Lee also slugged a ball over the wall for Seattle.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
We though that when the New York Yankees sold off their top trade assets before the deadline that their postseason chances were over. We thought wrong.
The Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Thursday night to get to within two games of the idle Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot in the American League and four games behind the also idle Boston Red Sox in the AL East after Tyler Austin hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Brian McCann had two homers, proof that there are still impact veterans left on the roster.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]
Just how hot have the Yankees been? They’re 30-21 since the All-Star break, the second best record over that span in the major leagues after the Chicago Cubs, have won five straight and 11 of their last 15.
From MLB.com:
“They’re excited in there, and they should be; they’re playing extremely well,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ve had some big series we’ve been able to win. I thought tonight was a great effort by everyone involved. A lot of guys contributed. I do think they are getting that feeling.”
Can these Yankees pull it off? It’ll be tough, but they’ve shown with their play of late they will not go quietly.
TOP PERFORMERS
Ivan Nova: The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander pitched nine innings of one-run ball, striking out four, in a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. That continues an impressive run for Nova since coming to Pittsburgh in a trade with the Yankees. He’s now 5-0 in six starts with the Pirates with a 2.53 ERA. Another Ray Searage reclamation project success story? We’ll see, but it looks promising so far.
Ryan Howard: The Philadelphia Phillies first baseman doesn’t hit for a high average anymore but he can still hit the ball out of the park, and he showed that with a three-run homer in a 4-1 win over the Washington Nationals. That gives him 21 on the season and 378 for his career. Will he get the opportunity to get to 400? He has one year left on his contract, but the Phillies can buy it out for $10 million.
*MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
A balk is a positive play for a team at the plate, as all base runners move up a base. A home run? Obviously, even better. With a runner at first base and two outs in the fourth inning, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Junior Guerra was called for a balk but still delivered a pitch to St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong.
Guerra would have preferred the balk. Wong smashed the ball deep to right-center for a home run. Unfortunately for Wong and the Cardinals, the Brewers hit three homers of their own in a 12-5 win.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Indians 10, Astros 7: Carlos Santana homered and Francisco Lindor drove in three runs to help Cleveland avoid a sweep against Houston.
Padres 14, Rockies 1: Ryan Schimpf drove in four, three thanks to a home run, as San Diego absolutely crushed Colorado.
Mariners 6, Rangers 3: Kyle Seager picked up three hits, including a home run, and Dae-Ho Lee also slugged a ball over the wall for Seattle.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew*on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email][email protected] [/EMAIL] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr