After sending 16 players to the injured list and playing without what amounts to a borderline All-Star team, the Yankees have a chance to take over first place this weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. versus the Rays.
They finished off their homestand with a 3-1 win over Seattle Thursday night in The Bronx, their fourth victory in five games, to close to within 1½ games of the Rays. It’s as close as they’ve been to the AL East lead since the third day of the season.
A solid outing from J.A. Happ, a key double play induced by Adam Ottavino and another clutch hit by Gio Urshela contributed to their latest win.
“Baseball is hard to predict,’’ Ottavino said of the team’s success. “We all try with projections and all that stuff, but you’ve got to play the games. Sometimes a group can come together unexpectedly, and that’s what happening right now.”
It started with Happ overcoming his recent issues at Yankee Stadium.
The lefty, who had allowed four runs and a pair of homers in 5²/₃ innings to the Twins in his previous outing at home, had fallen to 0-3 with a 7.65 ERA at the Stadium. After that last outing, Happ admitted to being impacted by the short porch in right.
That wasn’t an issue on Thursday, as Happ delivered five-plus shutout innings and didn’t allow a hit until Tom Murphy’s hard grounder got through the left side of the infield with two outs in the fifth. He followed by getting Braden Bishop on a popup to short.
“He’s been fighting hard, really grinding,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “He was pretty intense throughout that game and got us off on the right foot.”
The Yankees got an RBI double from Cameron Maybin in the second, as he continued his surprisingly productive run since joining the team.
Mitch Haniger stumbled near the fence down the right-field line on the play, but third-base coach Phil Nevin held Gleyber Torres at third and Thairo Estrada grounded out to short to end the threat.
Happ walked Dylan Moore to open the sixth, ending his night after 94 pitches, as Ottavino entered.
Ottavino got Haniger looking, but Moore stole second and moved to third when Gary Sanchez’s throw went into center for an error. Edwin Encarnacion walked, but Ottavino got Domingo Santana to ground into a double play started by Torres to end the inning and preserve the Yankees’ slim lead.
Ottavino wasn’t sure the ball was hit hard enough for Torres to turn two.
“[I was thinking] the same thing everybody else was thinking: Is it fast enough? Do we have enough time and can he make the play?” said Ottavino, who hasn’t allowed a hit in his last six appearances, covering 6¹/₃ innings. “Then I saw when he was taking it himself and knew he must have felt OK. Luckily, we got it there in time.”
Tommy Kahnle, who had an 11-game streak in which he didn’t allow a hit or a run snapped Tuesday, rebounded with a scoreless inning Thursday and Zack Britton retired the side in order in the eighth.
Urshela provided some much-needed insurance after entering the game in the seventh as a defensive replacement at third base for the struggling Miguel Andujar.
With runners on second and third and two out in the eighth, the Mariners walked the hot-hitting Torres intentionally to bring up Urshela.
Once again, Urshela delivered, punching an opposite-field single to right to score two runs and make it 3-0.
Aroldis Chapman allowed a two-out homer to Santana in the ninth, the first he has surrendered this season, before finishing it.
“It’s a long way to go and you’ve got to play consistently over a long period to have a chance to win big,’’ Boone said. “We’re doing well, but it’s ‘Let’s get to Tampa and let’s put our best foot forward [Friday]. That’s about as far as we look at it right now.”