DETROIT — The Yankees won’t have a playoff chase to make in September, but they can at least help bolster Gerrit Cole’s Cy Young bid.
That train continued to roll along Wednesday night at Comerica Park, where Cole — even without his most dominant stuff — tossed six solid innings and got plenty of support in a 6-2 win over the Tigers.
Gleyber Torres homered for a third straight game, one of three home runs the Yankees hit on Wednesday as they clinched their first series victory in 11 tries — their last one coming when they swept the Royals on July 21-23.
If only the Yankees played in the AL Central.
While the series-clinching victory came too late to make much of a difference, the Yankees (65-68) at least got Cole another win.
The Yankees’ ace, whose offense and/or bullpen has cost him a handful of wins this season, improved to 12-4 and kept his ERA right at 2.95.
He gave up a pair of solo home runs to Jake Rogers and Spencer Torkelson but otherwise faced little resistance while striking out seven.
Read Related Also: Matilda's create $7.6 billion economic boost across country
Cole has now allowed two runs or fewer in 21 of his 28 starts this season, the most in the majors.
The Yankees took a 2-0 lead before Cole threw a pitch, taking advantage of the Tigers’ wild opener, Brendan White.
DJ LeMahieu then homered in the second inning to make it 3-0, belting his fifth home run in his last eight games.
Anthony Volpe doubled to lead off the third inning and came in to score on fellow rookie Everson Pereira’s RBI single.
Giancarlo Stanton went back-to-back with Torres in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 6-1, which was plenty of support for Cole.
Ian Hamilton relieved Cole and tossed three shutout innings to spare the rest of the bullpen, setting the Yankees up for a chance to sweep the Tigers (59-74) on Thursday afternoon.
