Gwiz's three up/three down

BRONX, N.Y. — Every moment this season seems to unearth a new milestone. These New York Yankees keep climbing in the record books. New York carried out a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays. Hence, the Bronx Bombers have won seven straight games and 14 consecutive contests at Yankee Stadium.

In addition, the Yankees are 31 games above the .500 mark. They're on pace for 120 victories. As of this writing, they are 10 games ahead of Toronto, 12 games up on Tampa, 13.5 games north of Boston, and 20 games in front of Baltimore.

Three up:

Anthony Rizzo: Call it recency bias, call it what you will but Rizzo is here. On Thursday evening, Rizzo tied the game with a single in the sixth inning and walked it off with a home run in the ninth inning. He has 16 home runs this season, while Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson have 13 combined. Rizzo also picked up a couple of stolen bases in the series.

https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1537814753594187777?s=20&t=eCEtatazVH2nvoxHrRzePg

Kyle Higashioka: Rays' manager Kevin Cash disrespected him and the Higgster made him pay. Higgy's three-run homer in the fifth inning on Wednesday was the difference-maker in the Bronx Bombers' 4-3 victory.

https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1537230908566036480?s=20&t=eCEtatazVH2nvoxHrRzePg

Gerrit Cole: There wasn't a huge margin for error in Tuesday's contest. Ask the Rays, they made two of them and the Yankees capitalized. Cole was able to dig down deep when he needed to, especially recording a key double-play ball in the sixth inning to squelch a Rays threat. Cole tossed six scoreless frames, struck out seven, walked one, and scattered five hits.

https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1536880708609777665?s=20&t=eCEtatazVH2nvoxHrRzePg

Three down:

Does anyone have a rule book?: The eighth inning debacle and delay on substitutions and visits were completely uncalled for on Wednesday night. For a game that was breezing along, there was no reason for that to happen.

Too cute: Speaking of that inning, he got away with it but perhaps manager Aaron Boone should've gone to Clay Holmes right off the bat, rather than Lucas Luetge, who allowed two inherited base runners to score.

DJ LeMahieu: Rather than go with the usual suspects here, I'm picking on LeMahieu. In the series, he went 1-for-11 with a walk and zero extra-base hits. Is his wrist still bothering him?