WANDY PERALTA

Max Scherzer has theorized that baseball’s new pitch clock will allow pitchers to dictate the pace of games.

The Houston Astros are still the team to beat in the American League. They completed their sweep of the New York Yankees and will face the Phillies in the World Series.

The Yankees were up 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Cleveland Guardians continued to scratch and claw and scored three in the ninth to win.

Yankees reliever Lou Trivino got a tap on his shoulder as he warmed up in the bullpen alerting him he had on the wrong jersey: the No. 50 belonging to Jameson Taillon instead of his own 56.

Yankees reliever Lou Trivino got a tap on his shoulder as he warmed up in the bullpen alerting him he had on the wrong jersey: the No. 50 belonging to Jameson Taillon instead of his own 56. Trivino had pulled off his sweatshirt to throw his pitches on a cool Friday night at the Coliseum and the problem became clear. “I don't know, it happens,” Trivino said.

Aaron Judge hit a 453-foot drive halfway up the bleachers for his 48th home run and added an RBI single during a seventh-inning rally, boosting the Yankees past the Mets 4-2 for a two-game sweep in a Subway Series both teams hope was a World Series prelude.

Bo Bichette thumped a leadoff homer in the first inning and singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 42nd homer, and the Toronto Blue Jays held off the skidding New York Yankees 6-4 for their eighth straight win.

Wandy Peralta retired Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded for the final out, and the New York Yankees held off the Atlanta Braves 5-4 in a thriller to extend their longest winning streak in 36 years to 11 games.

DJ LeMahieu led off the 11th inning with an RBI double and the New York Yankees, after blowing four late leads, finally held off the feisty Kansas City Royals 8-6.

Clint Frazier hit a game-ending, two-run homer with two outs in the 11th inning after making a game-saving catch in the eighth, and the slumping New York Yankees beat the rival Tampa Bay Rays 5-3.

Andrew Knapp hit the winning single in the ninth inning, Bryce Harper hit a tying solo homer in the seventh and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5.

Gallen went 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA during the pandemic-shortened season, striking out 82 in 72 innings. SETBACK IN THE BULLPENBlue Jays right-hander Kirby Yates will miss several weeks because of a strained muscle in his forearm. He allowed one run and five hits, striking out five without a walk. Bryan Abreu, a top Astros pitching prospect who turns 24 next month, started and pitched three perfect innings, striking out four. Baltimore starter John Means allowed four hits and walked three over 3 2/3 innings, striking out three.