Page 20 - AT

A20 SPORTS
Friday 5 OctOber 2018
Yankees rout A's 7-2 in wild-card game

By RONALD BLUM AL Championship Series ager Bob Melvin opted for
AP Baseball Writer beat the Red Sox. A year baseball's latest fad: start-
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron later Boston overcame the ing a reliever. Hendriks (the
Judge got the party start- Yankees and became the loser) had not allowed a
ed with a two-run homer first major league team to home run since June 24,
nine pitches in . By the time bounce back from a 3-0 the night before he was cut
Giancarlo Stanton capped postseason deficit. The Red from the major league ros-
the mauling with monstrous Sox went on to win their first ter.
drive in his postseason de- World Series since 1918, but "Got into some bad counts
but , New York Yankees Boone's drive off Tim Wake- and they made me pay,"
fans already were looking field has not been forgot- Hendriks said.
ahead. ten or forgiven. Voit's two-run triple missed
"We want Boston!" they Boston went 10-9 against a home run by inches. Stan-
chanted. the Yankees this year and ton added a 443-foot drive
Coming up next. set a club record with 108 off closer Blake Treinen in
"It's going to be intense," wins. New York became the eighth that landed in
CC Sabathia predicted af- the first team since the 2001 left field's second deck,
ter the Yankees pounded A's to reach triple digits in completing a power show
the Oakland Athletics 7-2 wins and fail to finish first. by the team that set a ma-
on Wednesday night to "We've just got to do our jor league record for most
win their second straight AL homework and come out home runs in a season.
wild-card game. swinging," said Luke Voit, Stanton's drive left the bat
New York will take a train to who broke open the game at 117.4 mph and Judge's
Boston for a best-of-five Di- with a two-run triple in a 116.1 mph, the hardest-
vision Series starting Friday four-run sixth . hit postseason home runs
night, a matchup of 100- Luis Severino atoned for last since measuring began in
win heavyweights. year's flop in the wild-card 2015.
"I think they're ready and game against Minnesota, New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino reacts after A sellout crowd enjoyed
relish the opportunity to go pitching no-hit shutout ball striking out Oakland Athletics' Marcus Semien with the bases one of those boisterous
loaded to end the top of the fourth inning of the American
up against the game's best into the fifth . Dellin Be- League wild-card playoff baseball game, Wednesday, Oct. 3, Bronx celebrations that
this year," Yankees rookie tances entered with two 2018, in New York. used to be an October
manager Aaron Boone on and got six straight outs Associated Press staple.
said of his players. as part of a five-hitter, and "Early in the game they're
Boone remains a dirty word the Yankees extended their scream after escaping a night — to strike out Marcus going to be loud. It's our job
among the Fenway Park home postseason winning bases-loaded jam in the Semien . to try to take them out of
faithful. His 11th-inning hom- streak to seven. fourth with a 99.6 fastball Yankees fans fretted about it," Oakland manager Bob
er in Game 7 of the 2003 Severino let out a primal — his fastest pitch of the an all-or-nothing knockout Melvin said. "This is a tough
match, thinking back to ballpark to play in."
last year when Severino fell Oakland has lost eight
behind Minnesota 3-0 just straight winner-take-all
10 pitches in. New York ral- postseason games since
lied for an 8-4 win against beating Willie Mays and
the Twins, but the memory the New York Mets in Game
remained raw. 7 of the 1973 World Series,
Severino retired his first and dropped all four of
three batters in order on 10 their postseason matchups
pitches against the Yankees.
"I think the first inning was "It's pretty hard but I'm
huge for me, after all the not disappointed at all,"
stuff that people say on so- said big league home run
cial media, all of that stuff," champion Khris Davis, who
he explained. hit a two-run homer off
Andrew McCutchen Zach Britton in the eighth
walked leading off the . "I think we showed some
bottom half against re- people we can do some
liever-turned starter Liam things and I think next year,
Hendricks, and Judge hit we're a little bit more of a
a drive over the left-field threat."
scoreboard, joining Reggie Severino was 14-2 at the
Jackson as the only Yan- All-Star break this year but
kees with four home runs in slumped badly in the sec-
their first seven postseason ond half, and Boone's deci-
home games. sion to start the 24-year-old
"I was already excited from right-hander against the A's
the national anthem on," instead of J.A. Happ or Ma-
said Judge, who hit his sec- sahiro Tanaka was intensely
ond homer since return- debated — the type of ar-
ing in mid-September after gument Boone used to en-
missing seven weeks with a joy as a television analyst
broken right wrist. who broadcast last year's
Short on options, A's man- wild-card game.q