Gerrit Cole's gem and Juan Soto's late heroics lead the Yankees to victory

“That's the Cy Young,” Soto, whose RBI double in the 10th inning made it 3-1, said of Cole. “That's the Cy Young going out there. Never doubt his ability and how great he is. It's just great to watch him do it. It was a little tough because we couldn't score any runs to back him up, but I'm definitely excited to see what he can do in nine innings.”

Cole's 99-pitch, two-hit performance helped reduce the Yankees' magic number and bring the AL East title to five games. The Orioles also won on Friday and are four games back with eight games remaining.

“Just an outstanding performance,” Aaron Boone said of Cole. “I'm proud of him.”

After Cole threw his final pitch of the night – he said he felt he still had enough strength to get on the field for the 10th inning, but was quickly stopped by Boone – the score was still 1-1.

But the Yankees (90-64) quickly took the lead at the beginning of the 10th inning.

Anthony Rizzo led off with a single that moved automatic runner Jasson Dominguez to third base and gave him the opportunity to score the winning run on a passed ball.

This happened during an at-bat by Soto, who was filling in for Trent Grisham as a pinch hitter after spending the evening on the bench because his left knee was swollen and sore from slamming it into the right outfield wall during a catch on Thursday in Seattle.

But Soto delivered, hitting an RBI double to left field to make the lead 3-1, at which point he was replaced by a pinch-runner.

“Showman-like,” Cole said. “He loves the moment, man, he loves it.”

Anthony Volpe added an RBI single – his third hit and second RBI of the night – to make it 4-1 and gave Luke Weaver some more breathing room as he ended the game in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The A's (67-87) scored the automatic runner with a single against Weaver, but he struck out the next three batters for his third save of the season.

While winning the division remains the top priority heading into the final week of the season, it is also critical to the Yankees' playoff hopes that Cole gets back on track and pitches as usual in October.

Cole had been pitching well of late until last Saturday when an intentional walk by his nemesis Rafael Devers (with one out and no one on base in the fourth inning of a game in which the Yankees were leading 1-0) resulted in a flop.

This made the wait until Friday's start feel a little longer, but Cole was relieved after his dominant performance on Friday.

“I was excited to pitch today because I had a chance to do something positive for the team,” said Cole, who had seven strikeouts. “We stayed on offense even though it was a close game.”

Cole struck out the first nine batters he faced on just 33 pitches before Lawrence Butler opened the bottom of the fourth inning with a single past Rizzo.

Butler then stole second base, allowing him to take a 1-0 lead with a two-out, two-strike single from Shea Langeliers down the left side.

But the Yankees came right back and tied the game early in the fifth inning by starting a comeback with two outs.

Rizzo got a full-count walk and then got to third base on a single the other way from Grisham – a late addition to the lineup for Soto – before Volpe went the other way and singled to tie the score at 1-1.