UPDATE-------------- 9/28/12 9:54 a.m. ET Yankees lose 0-6 to the Blue Jays. Magic number still intact
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--------UPDATE-------- 10:05 P.M.
Orioles defeated the Blue Jays 12-2. They hit seven home runs in the game to keep the Yankee's magic number at six.
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The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins Wednesday afternoon 8-2 shrinking their magic number down to six.
The win also puts pressure on the Baltimore Orioles who play later on in the day. If the Orioles lose tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays, then the Yankees' magic number drops to five and their lead goes up to 2.5 games.
The Yankees took advantage of their ace C.C. Sabathia being on the mound and to everybody's surprise, they did not need the home run to get runs across the board. Okay, they got a two-run homer from Chris Dickerson, but none of the big boppers hit bombs today.
Robinson Cano finished the game 2-5 with a run, two doubles and two RBI. Raul Ibanez continued to punish American League pitching, going 2-4 with a run.
The main story for the Yankees was Sabathia. He went eight innings with 10 strikeouts while giving up two runs on six hits and a walk. If the Yankees are to clinch the AL East, then they will need their ace to go the distance. With Sabathia going deep into the ball game, Joe Girardi can sit back and not have to worry about late inning pitching matchups like he did yesterday.
Lost in the mix was Derek Jeter's hitless game. He broke his 19-game hitting streak, but he did find a way to chip in by scoring a run in the game.
The Yankees will hit the field tomorrow and play the Blue Jays. Ivan Nova is expected to take the mound for the pinstripes.
