MINNEAPOLIS — From the middle of July, the Red Sox have been a double-edge razor blade in the Yankees’ cleats because they seemingly won three games a night and left their blood rivals hunting for the back door into October.
Now, in the belly of September, the Yankees have a new problem: the charging A’s are threatening to grab the top AL wild-card ticket, which would force that game to be played in Oakland, Calif., and not The Bronx.
After Sonny Gray, Jonathan Loaisiga and Tommy Kahnle flushed slim chances of being included on the wild-card roster Tuesday night when the terrible Twins put a 10-5 beating on the visitors in front of 20,343 at Target Field, the fading Yankees are in danger of having to travel to the Bay Area to play the most important game of the season.
Take the Yankees’ eighth loss in the past 15 games and couple it with Oakland’s 3-2 win over the hapless Orioles, and you see the A’s, who are 25-11 since the beginning of August, have pulled within two games of the Yankees. The last time the Yankees were two games up in the chase for the first wild-card spot was July 6. Each team has 17 games remaining.
Should the teams (who split six games this season) finish in a tie, the Yankees (as of Wednesday) would host the game based on having a better record against the AL East than the A’s do versus AL West clubs. The Yankees are 34-26 against the East; the A’s are 33-34 against the West.
“We got to do better,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We go out and lay an egg like that [Tuesday night], we just did not play well all around. This is the time when we have to start playing up to our capabilities and putting our best foot forward every single day.”
Gray and Loaisiga put the Yankees in a deep hole and Kahnle threw dirt on them when he gave up a fifth-inning grand slam to Joe Mauer, the first batter he faced, that upped the Twins’ lead to 10-1.
In his first start since Aug. 25 and possibly his last of the season, Gray allowed three runs (two earned), four hits and walked three. Loaisiga gave up six runs, four hits and walked three in 1 ¹/₃ innings.
“We have to control what we can control, there is nothing else we can do,’’ Gray said. “We lost one game, we are fine. Come out [Wednesday] and get behind [Luis Severino] and try to win a series here.’’
Didi Gregorius hit a grand slam in the sixth that cut the deficit to 10-5, but that was as close as the Yankees got.
“Frustrated, disappointed, any of those words fit the bill right now. We have a better team than the way we have been playing,’’ said Brett Gardner, who didn’t participate in the lopsided loss. “Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will come together and play the way we are capable of.’’
Getting Aaron Judge back from the disabled list possibly could add a boost, but just returning will mean very little if the rust accumulated since late July due to a fractured right wrist is thick.
“We will look back in a couple of months from now and we will be better and if we don’t play the way we are capable of we will be going home early,’’ Gardner said.
No matter where the wild-card game is played there is no guarantee who wins it, but the Yankees are 48-24 at Yankee Stadium and 42-31 on the road. Plus, if they are home after finishing the regular season in Boston, they avoid the cross-country flight to Oakland. That would also force the A’s to make that long trek to The Bronx since their season ends in Anaheim.
Either way it unfolds will create drama, because after a summer of looking at the Red Sox from behind the Yankees now feel the A’s breath on their necks.