Yankees Stat of the Day: Sept./Oct. 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Yankees this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

• Yankees Stat of the Day, August 2021

Oct. 3: Yankees 1, Rays 0 -- 1,569 K's rank second in club history
Six Yankees pitchers combined to record nine strikeouts in Game 162, which brought the team's total to 1,569 strikeouts this season. It's their second-highest total in franchise history, and it trails only the 1,634 strikeouts recorded by the 2018 Yanks.

Oct. 2: Rays 12, Yankees 2 -- King dethroned
Michael King recorded only one out in relief on Saturday, snapping his franchise record of recording at least four outs in each of his first 15 relief appearances of a season.

Oct. 1: Rays 4, Yankees 3 -- Urshela extends hitting streak
Gio Urshela went 2-for-4 in Friday's loss, extending his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games. Urshela is batting .375/.390/.525 (15-for-40) with eight runs, two homers and three RBIs over that span.

Sept. 30: Yankees 6, Blue Jays 2 -- Judge's mammoth homers
With his team scrapping and clawing to earn an American League Wild Card spot, Aaron Judge picked an excellent time to unleash a pair of no-doubt home runs that place him in the Statcast history books. Judge's homers both traveled 440-plus feet, making him the second Yankee since Statcast began tracking in 2015 to hit two that far in the same game (Alex Rodriguez on July 25, 2015). Judge also became the second Yankee to hit multiple home runs with exit velocities exceeding 114 mph (Giancarlo Stanton, twice: April 23, 2021 and Game 2 of the 2020 AL Division Series).

Sept. 29: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 5 -- Cole closes on Guidry
Wednesday wasn't a banner night for Gerrit Cole's box score entry, but he did tally six strikeouts. That brought him up to 243 strikeouts on the season, good for second all time in Yankees history. Cole trails only Ron Guidry, who fanned 248 batters over 35 starts in his 1978 AL Cy Young season.

Sept. 28: Yankees 7, Jays 2 -- Judge, Stanton join elite company
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have driven the Yankees into contention, and in the process they've carried themselves into elite company. In both of the past two months, the two Bronx Bombers have hit eight-plus homers and recorded 20-plus RBIs (Judge has 16 homers and 46 RBIs in that span; Stanton has 19 homers and 50 RBIs). The only other duo in AL/NL history to accomplish that in August and September of the same season was Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, for the 1931 Yankees.

Sept. 26: Yankees 6, Red Sox 3 -- Judge rises in the clutch
Aaron Judge's two-run double in the eighth inning on Sunday marked his seventh go-ahead hit in the eighth inning or later this season, tying Graig Nettles (1974) for the most by a Yankee in the Expansion Era, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Sept. 25: Yankees 5, Red Sox 3 -- Stanton, the Statcast king
Giancarlo Stanton's go-ahead grand slam on Saturday traveled 452 feet and was his 30th home run with a projected distance of 450 feet or greater during the Statcast era (since 2015). Stanton is by far the Statcast leader in that category; the next closest is Nelson Cruz (17).

Sept. 24: Yankees 8, Red Sox 3 -- Lights-out bullpen
Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta and Chad Green combined for three scoreless innings in Boston. Yankees relievers have not allowed an earned run over their last 15 2/3 innings. They've held opponents to six hits and two walks over that span, with 18 strikeouts.

Sept. 22: Yankees 7, Rangers 3 -- Gleyber Days
Gleyber Torres delivered the tiebreaking hit in a comeback victory over the Rangers. Torres owns a nine-game hitting streak, over which he is batting .355 (11-for-31) with four runs scored, two doubles, two RBIs and six walks -- a surge that directly coincides with his shift from shortstop to second base.

Sept. 21: Yankees 7, Rangers 1 -- King's quarters
Michael King has recorded at least four outs in each of his first 12 relief appearances this season. He is the second Yankees pitcher in history to achieve that feat, joining Ron Davis, who did it in 14 straight games from April 11-May 27, 1980.

Sept. 20: Yankees 4, Rangers 3 -- Win No. 8 for Green
Chad Green was credited with his eighth victory of the season in Monday's win over the Rangers. It is the fourth time since 2010 that a Yankees reliever has recorded at least eight wins. The others are Jonathan Loáisiga (nine in 2021), Green (eight in 2018) and David Robertson (eight in 2018).

Sept. 19: Indians 11, Yankees 1 -- Yanks dig the long ball
Yankees batters have homered in a season-high 12 straight games, slugging 29 homers over that span. 45 of their 55 runs in those 12 games have scored via home runs.

Sept. 18: Indians 11, Yankees 3 -- Round numbers for Giancarlo
Giancarlo Stanton rounded the bases for his 30th home run, securing the sixth 30-homer season of his career. The seventh-inning blast moved Stanton into a tie with Ron Santo (342) for 100th on the all-time home run list.

Sept. 17: Yankees 8, Indians 0 -- All Rise, Stantonian blast
The Yankees improved to 14-1 in games when both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton homer, including the postseason.

Sept. 16: Orioles 3, Yankees 2 (10 innings) -- Racking up K's
Jordan Montgomery recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts on Thursday to follow Néstor Cortes Jr.'s 11 punchouts on Wednesday. It marked the first time Yankees starting pitchers struck out 10-plus batters in back-to-back games since 2009, when A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia did so on Aug. 27-28.

Sept. 15: Yankees 4, Orioles 3 -- Another winning season
The Yankees have had a winning season every year since 1993, and 2021 will be no different after New York recorded its 82nd victory of the year. The Yanks' 29-season streak is the second longest in MLB history behind their own stretch of 39 consecutive winning seasons from 1926-64. They've also tied the NHL's Boston Bruins for the third longest streak of consecutive winning seasons across the four major professional sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL).

Sept. 14: Yankees 7, Orioles 2 -- Judge knows vs. O's
Aaron Judge's 400-foot home run gave the Yankees an early lead on Tuesday in Baltimore, and it also made history for the outfielder. The blast was his 26th career home run versus an Orioles pitcher. That ties the most by any Major League player against a single opponent since 2017; Mike Trout has hit 26 homers against the Mariners in that span.

Sept. 13: Yankees 6, Twins 5 (10 innings) -- Five-run comeback
The Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit, marking their largest comeback win since Aug. 30, 2020, when they rallied from five down to beat the Mets, 8-7, in Game 1 of a seven-inning doubleheader. The largest deficit that the Yanks previously overcame in a game this year was three runs.

Sept. 12: Mets 7, Yankees 6 -- Stanton Island and the Citi
Giancarlo Stanton's home run was his 37th against the Mets, his most against any opponent (he has 36 against the Nationals). Stanton's 23 homers at Citi Field are the most by a visiting player at that venue.

Sept. 11: Yankees 8, Mets 7 -- 'All Rise' x 2 in Queens
With two homers, Aaron Judge became the eighth Yankees player (ninth time) with a multi-homer game against the Mets. The last was Mark Teixeira on April 24, 2015, at Yankee Stadium. Tony Clark (July 3, 2004) was the last Yankee to have a multi-homer game in Queens.

Sept. 10: Mets 10, Yankees 3 -- Historic slide
With Friday's loss, the Yankees have lost 11 of 13 since their 13-game winning streak. They are the second team in Major League history to go 2-11 or worse in the 13 games immediately following a single-season win streak of 13-plus games (1991 Rangers).

Sept. 9: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 4 -- Playing from behind
Not only were the Yankees saddled with only their second four-game sweep at home against Toronto (the other was May 22-25, 2003), but they never once held a lead. Anthony Rizzo's two-run homer in the sixth tied the game Thursday night, but that's as close as the Yanks would get. It's the first time New York was unable to lead at any point in a series of four-plus games since June 23-25, 1924, against the Washington Senators. The Yankees had played 1,250 series of four-plus games since then and held a lead in each series.

Sept. 8: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 3 -- Gil sets Yankees record
Right-hander Luis Gil made his fourth career start and extended his scoreless-innings streak to 18 2/3 before departing after he walked the bases loaded with one out in the fourth. All three runners scored to end the streak, but the mark established a Yankees record for scoreless innings to start a career, surpassing Slow Joe Doyle's 18-inning streak in 1906.

Sept. 7: Blue Jays 5, Yankees 1 -- 3 multihit games for Velazquez
In Tuesday's loss to the Blue Jays, Yankees shortstop Andrew Velazquez went 2-for-3 to collect his third multihit game of the season. Prior to this year, Velazquez only had one multihit game in his first three Major League seasons (2018-20).

Sept. 6: Blue Jays 8, Yankees 0 -- Taillon showing consistency
Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 10 of his last 12 starts since July 6, going 5-2 with a 3.39 ERA (69 innings, 26 earned runs) in that span.

Sept. 5: Orioles 8, Yankees 7 -- Kraken a bottom-feeder
Gary Sánchez tallied six RBIs on Sunday afternoon to tie his career high, but more notably, he became just the fourth Yankee in franchise history to record at least six RBIs out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order since the stat became official in 1920. He joined Spud Chandler (July 26, 1940) with six and is behind only Joe Girardi (Aug. 23, 1999) and Vic Raschi (Aug. 4, 1953), who each had seven.

Sept. 4: Orioles 4, Yankees 3 -- 40 years ago ...
With Jordan Montgomery holding the Orioles to a run over 4 2/3 innings on Saturday, Yankees starters own a 3.72 ERA for the season. Yanks starters have not finished the season with an ERA that low since 1981 (3.16), when Rudy May, Tommy John, Ron Guidry and Dave Righetti headlined the staff.

Sept. 3: Yankees 4, Orioles 3 (11 innings) -- Moving up the leaderboard
With Friday's victory over Baltimore, Aaron Boone has won 314 games as the Yankees' manager, moving past Buck Showalter (313) for sole possession of ninth place on the franchise's all-time wins list. Next up is Hall of Famer Clark Griffith (419), who piloted the Highlanders from 1903-08.

Sept. 1: Yankees 4, Angels 1 -- Cole ties Cone's 10-K record
Gerrit Cole recorded 15 strikeouts over seven dominant innings, marking his ninth game with at least 10 strikeouts this year. That ties David Cone (1998) for the most in a season in franchise history.