Yankees in awe of Giancarlo Stanton's homers, hot streak at plate

TORONTO – It was catcher Kyle Higashioka who perhaps best summarized the feeling in the Yankees’ dugout when it comes to Giancarlo Stanton and the kind of tear the DH/outfielder is on.

"Watching Big G hit homers is my favorite thing in all of baseball,'' Higashioka said. "Nobody hits the ball like he does."

Higashioka spoke late in the night Aug. 27 in Oakland after watching Stanton bomb one an estimated 472 feet to dead center at the cavernous Oakland Coliseum in the Yankees’ 8-2 victory over the A’s that gave them a 13-game winning streak.

At that point, Stanton had been red hot for nearly a month.

Now it’s been nearly two months.

Stanton went 2-for-5 in Tuesday night’s 7-2 victory over the Blue Jays, homering in a fourth straight game and giving him 15 homers in his last 31 games.

The 31-year-old Stanton, hitting .278 with 35 homers, 96 RBIs and an .886 OPS entering Wednesday, extended his RBI total to 13 in those four games.

Since Aug. 1, Stanton ranks tied for second in homers with 19, second in RBIs (50), fourth in slugging percentage (.653) and ninth in OPS, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

"We’re playing for keeps, we’re playing for a lot, and I think G is embodying that right now," Aaron Boone said. "He understands how important every pitch is, every inning is, every at-bat is, so he’s taking nothing off."

The victory put the Yankees’ magic number at three for securing a postseason bid and at four for copping home-field advantage for the American League wild-card game that is scheduled for next Tuesday.

The Yankees (90-67) came into Wednesday leading the collapsing Red Sox (88-69) by two games, the Mariners (88-70) by 2 1/2 and the Blue Jays (87-70) by three.

Stanton’s seventh-inning homer, a three-run shot that broke open a close game – it increased the Yankees’ lead to 6-2 from 3-2 – in some ways was pedestrian compared to some of his other massive blows, this one traveling "only" an estimated 421 feet to left.

But what amazed the dugout – both dugouts, actually – was the homer itself considering the pitch location by righty Trevor Richards. The changeup arrived low and inside, a pitch Stanton nonetheless managed to turn on and swat, effortlessly it seemed, into the second deck.

It was just the latest example of why Aaron Boone often refers to Stanton as a "unicorn" among baseball players.

The pitch, according to mlb.com, was just 1.26 feet off the ground at the point of contact, making it the lowest pitch Stanton has ever homered on.

"I don’t know how you can hit a ball like that," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Toronto reporters afterward. "That ball was almost in the dirt, and he went and hit it out."

Aaron Judge, who homered Tuesday and also contributed a sacrifice fly, has, of course, hit more than his share of impressive tape-measure, exit-velocity home runs in his career.

And Judge is just as much in awe of Stanton as everyone else in a Yankees uniform.

"I feel like any big moment, any big situation, you know he's going to come through," Judge said. "He keeps coming up with guys on base, we're down a couple of runs or the game's close, and he just goes up there and does his thing … it's just impressive what he's been able to do day in and day out. Every single night he's coming up with a big hit for us, and you don't see that too often, especially like the pitch he hit tonight. That pitch is two inches off the ground, and it felt like a foot inside he was able to hit it four-hundred-and-something feet into the second deck. It’s fun to watch."