Ian Desmond Lifts Rockies Past Nationals; Aaron Judge Homers, Yankees Wrap Up Wild Card

Players of the Day for Friday, September 28, 2018

Aaron Judge

American League

The suspense is over.

The New York Yankees - by virtue of their 11-6 win at Boston and Oakland's 8-5 loss to the Angels - will host the al wild card game on Wednesday, October 3.

Tearing through the Boston pitching staff with 13 hits, every Yankee player had at least one hit, including Aaron Judge, recently returned from the disabled list, who went 2-for-4, including his first home run since July 21.

Judge finished off the scoring for the Yankees with a booming solo homer to Fenway Park's center field. He had been sidelined with a fractured wrist since July 24, coming off the DL on September 14. Earlier, the Yankee right fielder had walked and singled, scoring in both the third and fourth innings as the Yankees piled on the runs. They led 8-0 before Boston struck for four runs in the sixth on Steve Pearce's grand slam.

Miguel Andujar stroked his 44th double in the fourth inning, tying Joe DiMaggio for the most doubles by a rookie in Yankee history. DiMaggio hit his 44 in 1936.

Now that the wild card locale has been decided, all positions in the AL are set in stone. Boston, Houston and Cleveland are division champions, with the Yankees and A's set to duel in the single-elimination game next week. The winner of the wild card game would open the division series in Boston while the Indians would will travel to Houston. Both series would begin on Friday, the 5th of October.

National League

Ian Desmond

Getting hot at the most opportune time has taken the Colorado Rockies from playoff wannabes to a possible game away from claiming the National League West division crown. Winners of eight straight, the Rockies rocketed past the Cardinals in the wild card and beyond the Dodgers into first place in the division in just over a week.

Friday's 5-2 win over the visiting Nationals was testimony to their timely play and grit under pressure.

Starting pitcher, Kyle Freeland, worked out of jam after jam in his six innings of work, allowing just two runs on 11 hits and one walk. Freeland, 17-7, worked himself into and out of bases-loaded situations in the second and third innings without surrendering a run, but Trea Turner's two-out triple in the fourth plated a pair of runs for the Nationals. Freeland gave up a single in the fifth and a double in the sixth, leaving the game with a 4-2 lead thanks to a Charlie Blackmon solo homer in the third, Ian Desmond's two-run fifth inning blast, followed directly by Chris Iannetta's solo homer.

In the bottom of the sixth, Dan Dahl stroked a solo homer to complete the scoring. It was the fifth consecutive game in which Dahl has gone yard, With his solo shot in the sixth, joining Dante Bichette (1995), Larry Walker (1999) and Arenado (2015) as Rockies' players to accomplish the unique five-in-five feat.

Desmond, who played for Washington from 2009 through 2015, came back to bite his former team, his homer turning a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 Colorado lead that the Rockies would never relinquish. Desmond's homer was his 22nd of the season, to go with 88 RBI and 20 stolen bases.

With the Dodgers winning, 3-1, at San Francisco, the Rockies maintained their one game lead in the division. St. Louis lost their fourth straight, dropping an 8-4 decision at the Chicago Cubs, leaving the Cardinals with almost no hope of post-season play. The Cubs remain a game behind Milwaukee in the Central, as the Brewers knocked off Detroit, 6-5.

Colorado can clinch at least a tie for the division title with a win or an LA loss on Saturday. Any combination of Colorado wins and Dodger losses equalling two would clinch the division outright. The regular season ends Sunday with all games starting between 3:05 and 3:20 pm EDT.