Yankees clinch wild card with 10,000th win ever

Better belated than not yet for the New York Yankees, who clinched a playoff spot for the first time in three years and the 52nd time overall Thursday night, beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1 at Yankee Stadium for what also was the 10,000th regular-season victory in team history.

Carlos Beltran, Greg Bird and Robert Refsnyder hit solo homers for the Yankees, who guaranteed themselves an AL wild-card spot with their 87th victory of the season. They also averted a four-game sweep by the Red Sox, who are finishing strong but out of the playoffs for the second straight season after winning the World Series in 2013. Boston’s Rich Hill, finishing off an amazing comeback run at the end of the season, allowed two runs and four hits over six innings. He struck out six.

Here’s Beltran’s homer:

CC Sabathia allowed a run and six hits over five innings on a stormy night at Yankee Stadium, but it was Adam Warren who was the pitching star, following with three scoreless innings to put Dellin Betances in position to close in the ninth. Betances, Andrew Miller and Justin Wilson combined to throw 81 pitches the night before, when the Yanks missed a third opportunity to close the deal on a playoff spot.

The Yankees, who were eliminated from the AL East race on Wednesday after the Blue Jays won, can clinch home field for the wild card with another victory during the final three scheduled days of the regular season. Or, if they don’t win again, if the Astros lose one more game. One caveat about making the playoffs but not winning the division: The Yankees have been the wild card five times since 1995, but never in any of those seasons did they win the World Series.

Get right-hander Adam Warren a game ball. (USATSI)

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