At its most charitable, this was a laborious afternoon. Both starting pitchers worked slow, the heat was permeable through the TV screen, and plenty of traffic meant this was a long one. At least the Yankees came out on top, scoring five runs in the last three innings, and a huge ninth, to sweep away the Redbirds and move to within a half-game of the Red Sox — 8-4 was your Sunday afternoon final. Sunday was a well-timed win in particular, as it came in conjunction with losses from AL rivals Boston, Toronto, Houston, Detroit, and Cleveland.

The game started on a pretty blue omen for the Yankees. Leadoff hitter Trent Grisham scalded a ball up the middle that shortstop Masyn Winn couldn’t quite corral. It looked like Grish had done his job, kicking the game off by reaching base and setting t

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