Five times already this month, the Yankees have won by taking the lead in their final at-bat. They did it twice in Houston, twice against Cleveland and once against Boston. Those were the other three teams that reached an American League division series last October. Early statements don’t come more forcefully than that.

“Our lineup as a whole is really hard to get through time and time again, and it’s a tribute to all those guys that make you work,” Manager Aaron Boone said. “If you’re not on top of your game, you’re in some trouble against us. That’s because of the way each guy goes up there with a plan and grinds out an at-bat. I’ve seen that basically every single night.”

Yankees hitters lead the A.L. in pitches per plate appearance, at 4.07. Judge ranks third in the A.L. at 4.46 and Brett Gardner ranks fourth at 4.33. (No other team has two players in the top eight.) Judge walked three times on Thursday and is leading the A.L. in walks for the second season in a row; his refined eye is largely what makes him so dangerous.

Gardner is hitting just .208 but continues to be one of the more impressive and important Yankees. He is the only hitter remaining from the 2009 title team — only one other active Yankees position player, Neil Walker, was even in the majors back then — and sets an example for the organization’s philosophy.

On Wednesday, Gardner smashed his two-run, go-ahead triple off Kimbrel on a full count. On Thursday, he greeted Kelly with a four-pitch walk to drive in the first run of the game-tying rally.

When Kimbrel struck him out swinging in the ninth, on a full-count fastball at the top of the strike zone, Gardner immediately turned to the plate umpire, Stu Scheurwater, and asked if he had just swung at ball four. It was close, Scheurwater told him.

Gardner said later that it was such a tough pitch, he wished he had let it go; there was no virtue in going down swinging when a calculated take would have given him a better shot to claw his way on base. It was a typically sophisticated insight from Gardner, who still marveled at the way the opposite leadoff man, Boston’s Mookie Betts, wore down Masahiro Tanaka to start Wednesday’s game.