X-factors for Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners and Tigers as ALDS matchups are set
USA TODAY Sports’ Gabe Lacques breaks down the ALDS and players to watch from the Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners and Tigers
Sports Pulse
NEW YORK — The play of the night belonged to Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon, who tracked Jarren Duran’s foul pop-up with one out in the top of the eighth inning to the Red Sox dugout … and caught the ball while his whole body flipped over the railing.
McMahon was not hurt on the play and received a standing ovation from the sellout Yankee Stadium crowd.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone called it a “great play by a great defender.”
“It went up, and then I felt like I saw, kind of my periphery, I feel like he’s got a bead on it, but I know where he is headed, and he’s on the dead run, so it just flashed back to Gio Urshela a couple years ago when he went flying into the dugout against Tampa late in the season. I came sprinting out of the dugout because I knew it could be dangerous over there,” Boone said.
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Said starting pitcher Cam Schlittler: “Yeah, that was amazing. I was just hoping he wasn’t hurt. Everybody running over there to check on him. Again, obviously the momentum was on our side, and he just kind of kept it going.”
The play “fired up” reliever David Bednar.
“I was glad it stayed in play, got that final out, and on to Toronto,” Bednar said.
New York won 4-0 in the winner-take-all Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox and will face the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Division Series starting Saturday, Oct. 2.
The Yankees acquired McMahon from the Colorado Rockies ahead of the trade deadline and he posted four home runs and 18 RBIs in 54 games after joining New York.
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