The Yankees’ 4-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday performed the function of keeping their faint American League East title hopes alive, at least for another day.
Hours after the Yankees’ victory, Boston lost at home to Houston, leaving the Red Sox still needing one win, or a Yankees loss, to clinch the division.
But the day’s real significance seemed to lie in the commemoration of the unusual: Masahiro Tanaka’s career-high 15 strikeouts, Manager Joe Girardi’s extraordinarily quick hook of Dellin Betances and the Yankees’ decision to play a rare Friday-afternoon game so as not to intrude on the start of Yom Kippur.