NEW YORK (AP) — Aroldis Chapman got Albert Pujols to swing over a slider in the dirt, and the New York Yankees jogged to the infield to exchange handshakes and hugs after clinching their first AL East title since 2012.
No wild celebration, not this year.
Hours after the startling news that pitcher Domingo Germán was placed on administrative leave under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, the homer-happy Yankees routed the Los Angeles Angels 9-1 Thursday night to wrap up first place and breeze to their 100th win.
DJ LeMahieu hit a go-ahead, three-run homer for yet another big moment in his first year with New York and old mainstay Brett Gardner homered and had three RBIs.
Players decided it was not a night for dogpiles, not given how many already have gotten hurt, some in bizarre mishaps.
“We’re just trying to avoid injuries,” LeMahieu said.
A day after wasting a chance to clinch first place, the Yankees went ahead when LeMahieu went deep in the second inning.
Gardner, among just two holdovers from their last World Series championship team in 2009, added a solo shot in the fourth and then hit a two-run double in the sixth. Cameron Maybin and Clint Frazier homered for good measure in the eighth.
“You got a team full of savages,” slugger Aaron Judge said, invoking the word manager Aaron Boone made famous during his mid-summer rant at an umpire. “It’s been a long season, a lot of ups and downs. We’re going to celebrate and enjoy tonight, but we got a lot more baseball to play.”
Despite putting 30 players on the injured list this year, New York (100-54) made Boone the first manager to win 100 games in each of his first two major league seasons.
“We got a lot bigger fish to fry, but this is the first step along the way,” Boone said. “Nothing has got in their way. Whatever has come adversity-wise, they faced it and powered right through it.”
The Yankees open the playoffs on Oct. 4, likely against Minnesota, which leads the AL Central, or the wild-card winner.
