The Bombers capped off their West Coast trip with a ninth-inning comeback to complete the road sweep.

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Just as it was looking like the fourth annual Lou Gehrig Day would not be celebrated with a Yankees win and sweep, Juan Soto said “not so fast.” He followed up his mammoth first inning home run with a clutch two-run shot in the ninth against flamethrowing closer Camilo Doval to give the Yankees their first lead and ultimately the victory, 7-5. They finished off the West Coast swing with a superlative 7-2 record and moved to 42-19 on the season, easily the best in the American League.

Soto must’ve gotten tired of being on base for all of Aaron Judge’s home runs this series, because he preempted his fellow slugger in the first by absolutely demolishing an elevated 2-2 fastball to the deepest part of Oracle Park, 25 feet over the 415 foot sign for his 16th of the season.

Hitters entered today slugging .714 off Blake Snell’s four-seamer. After the Soto homer, there was a clear shift to feeding the Yankees hitters curveballs, sliders, and changeups, and Snell held his opponents scoreless for the next three innings.

Cortes had some of the best power on his four-seamer all year last start but was missing that extra bit of oomph today. It didn’t affect him in the first, Cortes instead leaning on pinpoint control of the heater and cutter to tally a pair of strikeouts. That command didn’t quite follow him into the second and the Giants started putting the barrel to the ball with consistency. He coughed up the lead in the second, giving up a one-out double to the struggling Jorge Soler followed by a Casey Schmitt single to drive the DH home. A Tyler Fitzgerald single put runners on the corners with two outs and though Cortes was able to navigate out without further damage, the reprieve would prove fleeting.

Heliot Ramos led off the third with a bomb to deep straightaway center, clobbering a middle-middle 90 mph fastball in a 1-2 count. Schmitt followed suit an inning later, annihilating a first-pitch fastball that Cortes yanked down into the meat of the zone for a solo shot to left to put the Giants up, 3-1. Both home runs continued troublesome trends form Cortes this outing, the southpaw either catching way too much plate with a first-pitch heater or getting to two strikes easily before failing to put away the hitter and ultimately making a mistake in a pitcher’s count.

The offense picked their starter up in the fifth. Anthony Volpe led off with a single to extend his on-base streak to 29 games, followed by a perfectly executed bunt down the third base line by Soto. A Giancarlo Stanton walk loaded the bases with two outs for Alex Verdugo, and it was clear at this point that Snell was really laboring. He took an awkward step off the mound after an 0-1 fastball and ultimately had to leave the field with the trainer. Snell recently served a stint on the IL with a left adductor strain and that was exactly the area he appeared to be favoring as he walked to the dugout.

That brought Erik Miller into the game with the count 1-1 to Verdugo, creating an even tougher assignment for the Yankees left fielder as he was geared up to face Snell and now had to finish the AB against a completely different look. It didn’t faze him and he delivered with runners in scoring position as he has done all year, ripping a double to right to tie the score, 3-3.

Cortes’ day was over after he gave up a one-out single in the fifth, ending his afternoon having given up three runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts. Dennis Santana come on in relief and retired the final two batters of the frame. With the bullpen budget looking thin, skipper Aaron Boone sent Santana back out for the sixth and the righty reliever promptly served up a pair of singles to open the frame. He got the next two outs, but then was judged to have hit Curt Casali with a pitch, though the sound of impact, the trajectory of the carom, and Casali’s delayed reaction all suggested that the ball actually hit the knob of the bat. Santana then grooved on 0-1 slider to Ramos, who lined it to left to drive in a pair and restore the Giants’ two-run lead.

That was where the score would remain, 5-3, heading into the ninth with the Giants bringing on Doval, their 2023 All-Star closer. Gleyber Torres led off with a single but was erased at second on a soft Jose Trevino grounder, though the catcher managed to beat out the throw to first with a bit of hustle that would prove key the very next hitter. That’s because Volpe laced a triple into the right-center field gap, plating Trevino and cutting the deficit to just one.

That brought Soto to the plate with a runner on third and less than two outs.

All he needed was a deep fly ball to level the scores, but that is far from Soto’s style, the generational star jumping on a center-cut 98-mph cutter for a two-run blast, his second of the afternoon, this one giving the Yankees their first lead.

The Yankees weren’t finished.

Judge reached base for the fourth time before stealing his second base of the afternoon, forcing an errant throw from the catcher into center field that allowed him to advance to third. He was then able to walk home on a Stanton double lasered to the deepest part of the park for his his 1,500th career hit, giving the Yankees an invaluable insurance run.

This allowed Boone to hand the ball to closer Clay Holmes, who worked a stress-free 1-2-3 ninth to seal the Yankees’ come-from-behind victory, 7-5, as well as the sweep.

The flight home just got a lot shorter for the Yankees. They have an offday to rest tomorrow before welcoming the Twins to the Bronx for a three-game set. Luis Gil is set to face Bailey Ober in the series opener, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm ET on Tuesday.