Yankees Highlights: Bombers smash six homers but James Paxton exits

After a quick two-game sweep at the hands of the Rays, the Yankees are looking to reset and enter October with their ducks in a row. They made some progress on that front tonight, as Gary Sanchez made his return to the lineup (albeit with three strikeouts), and the lineup crushed the Rangers’ pitching en route to a 14-7 romp. On the other hand, the Yankees may be out of the running for home-field advantage in the AL playoffs by the time you read this, and they went through an injury scare early in the evening for good measure.

Winner of the Game

Six Yankees went deep , nudging New York past the Twins for most in league at 305 on the season. Naturally, we have plenty of good choices here. I would argue the most promising performance tonight belonged to Giancarlo Stanton. The slugger smashed an absolute shot 440 feet over the center-field wall in the first inning to immediately set the tone for the game:

Stanton added two singles and two walks, reaching base five times in as many appearances. He looked completely at ease and in total control at the plate, a promising sign as he continues to get his rhythm back ahead of the playoffs.

Honorable mention: Too many good performances tonight to mention them all, but Cameron Maybin went deep and recorded three hits, while Mike Ford homered and drove in four runs, and DJ LeMahieu homered and drove in three.

Loser of the Game

James Paxton exited tonight’s game after just one inning, 21 pitches, and two runs allowed. His velocity was fine, and he didn’t really appear to show any outward signs of injury. The Yankees removed him, however, causing a panic to run through Yankees Universe as fans feared for the man who has been the team’s best starter for two months. The Yankees soon announced Paxton was removed as a precaution due to tightness in his left glute. It sounds like Paxton is fine, but it’s still not great to see him enter the postseason on a down note, especially after he had gotten on such a tremendous roll over his previous 11 starts.

Chart

FanGraphs