The Yankees got another much-needed win over the Rangers in The Bronx, three homers from their big sluggers and saw the promising return from Luis Severino.
What they didn’t get, though, was any help in the wild-card race.
While the Yankees pounded the Rangers, 7-1, for a second straight victory, Toronto held on to beat Tampa Bay, keeping the Yankees half a game back for the second AL wild-card spot.
Despite trailing in the race, Aaron Judge — whose three-run homer put the game away — called the race “fun.”
“In years past, at this point in the season we kind of knew where we were gonna be [in the playoffs],’’ Judge said. “We already had a plan. This year is a little different. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. It’s all in our hands. That’s where you want to be. You want to control it.”
With just 10 games left, the Yankees will try to finish off a sweep of the last-place Rangers on Wednesday before trips to Boston and Toronto and a final series at home versus Tampa Bay.
“We’ve got a task at hand,’’ said Giancarlo Stanton, who also homered. “We have to play good baseball and get it done.”
Jordan Montgomery continued to pitch well in the second half, allowing just one run in 5 ²/₃ innings.
He’s now pitched at least five innings and given up one run or fewer in eight of his last 10 starts. Montgomery relied more on his changeup on Tuesday, saying he thought Texas was sitting on his curveball.
Unlike in many of the left-hander’s starts, the Yankees managed to produce at the plate, with Judge, Stanton and Joey Gallo all going deep.
To complete the night, Severino made his long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery, pitching a scoreless final two innings in his first appearance since the 2019 postseason.
“He’ll help us here down the stretch,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s Luis Severino. I’m not gonna cap what that could be. … It’s pretty late here in the season, but that’s a talented person and a great pitcher.”
The Yankees initially had trouble breaking the game open against right-hander Dane Dunning.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Anthony Rizzo was hit by an 0-2 pitch. Judge followed with a double to right-center, sending Rizzo to third.
Stanton’s broken-bat groundout scored Rizzo to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
But Judge was stranded on second when Gallo struck out.
They squandered another scoring opportunity in the second.
Brett Gardner’s one-out double moved Gleyber Torres to third, but Gio Urshela whiffed and DJ LeMahieu grounded out on a nice play in the hole by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, as the Yankees went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the first two innings.
The Yankees added to their lead in the third, as Stanton turned on a 0-1 slider and hammered it into the left-field seats to make it 2-0.
Montgomery faced his first trouble in the fourth, thanks to a leadoff walk to Kiner-Falefa. A long single by Andy Ibanez put runners on the corners with no one out.
He struck out Adolis Garcia for the first out, but the third strike got away from Gary Sanchez and the wild pitch moved Ibanez to second.
A Nick Solak groundout drove in Kiner-Falefa to cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1.
Three straight singles to open the bottom of the fifth gave the Yankees another run, as Rizzo knocked in Urshela and the Yankees went up, 3-1.
Montgomery ended his night by retiring eight straight before Ibanez lofted a double to right with two outs in the sixth.
Mike King got Garcia to end the inning.
Judge then put the game away with a three-run blast in the bottom of the seventh, his 36th homer of the year.
That gave Severino and the Yankees plenty of cushion, as Severino entered to start the eighth after being activated prior to Monday’s game.
Severino pitched a pair of scoreless innings to finish the game.
