Voit of Confidence

This was the best way for Luke Voit to rebound from his recent slump and the best retaliation possible for the drilling that bugged him so much last weekend against the Rays.

Voit’s leadoff blast in the ninth inning drew the Yankees within one run and sparked a 4-3 comeback win Friday night at the Stadium, allowing them to leapfrog Tampa Bay into first place in the AL East.
“Once that started a fire, I had no doubt in my mind [we would win],” said Voit, who halted an 0-for-22 skid with three hits in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep against the Orioles and had three more hits Friday night. “I was in my head about stuff.
“After the first game against Baltimore, I just said, ‘Screw it, it can’t get any worse.’ I just have to go back, have fun and smile.”
Voit hardly was in a smiling mood last Saturday, when he was plunked with a 95 mph fastball from Rays reliever Yonny Chirinos on the upper left arm — dangerously close to his head — one batter after DJ LeMahieu had blasted a home run.
“It’s just up and in on me, it’s the top of my shoulder, it’s frustrating. I am not saying he was or he wasn’t [trying to hit me]. He can hit me anywhere else. It’s just when it is up and in, it’s a sketchy situation that can be career-ending,’’ Voit said after that game.
“After giving up the home run, he is probably frustrated and trying to throw as hard as he could and it got away. That’s why I was so pissed off.’’

Voit is in a far better mood after rapping six hits in seven at-bats over his past two games, including a single in Friday’s fourth inning and a double to left in the sixth.
With the Yankees trailing 3-1 entering the ninth, Voit clocked Rays closer Jose Alvarado’s first pitch over the wall in right-center for his 11th home run of the season, one behind Gary Sanchez for the team lead. Their fourth straight win was sealed on Gio Urshela’s two-out RBI single over Kevin Kiermaier’s head in center field.
“To string together that level of at bats against that guy [Alvarado] was really impressive, and Luke had the big shot to get it going,” Aaron Boone said.
“It’s always nice to come back and I feel like we’ve come back so many times. Unbelievable,” Voit said, who now has 25 homers in 81 games as a Yankee since his acquisition from St. Louis last July 28. “This is the funnest team I’ve ever played for.”Night in, night out, it just gets better and better. Just the confidence we have.
“We knew we had a chance at 3-1, even though we were facing Alvarado. It doesn’t matter who we’re facing. It’s obviously crazy to think it could happen, but you know what, just keep going.”