On Wednesday night, the powerful New York Yankees erased a 5-0 deficit to beat the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium (NYY 7, SEA 5). The walk-off win was New York's third straight win and their 16th win in their last 20 games.

The heroes on Wednesday: Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton. Sanchez clubbed a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning and Stanton provided the two-run walk-off home in the ninth. To the video:

"For Giancarlo Stanton, he's been hitting on the road for the Yankees, but has not been doing it at home," said former MLB GM Jim Bowden on CBS Sports HQ. "This was a really big game for him and the Yankees, to give him confidence ... To watch Sanchez and then Stanton homer, it's significant because they're the two hitters that have been slumping the most."

With the win, the Yankees have baseball's best record at 49-22 (.690), and they are 40-13 since their uneven 9-9 start to the season. And even with Wednesday's home runs, neither Stanton nor Sanchez own batting lines in line with their career norms:

  • Sanchez: .197/.297/.448 (100 OPS+) with 14 HR and 41 RBI
  • Stanton: .255/.329/.504 (123 OPS+) with 18 HR and 42 RBI

That the Yankees have built baseball's best record with Sanchez and Stanton doing that should a) make them feel pretty good going forward, because they know they can win without those two carrying the load, and b) scare other teams. Even when two of their top hitters are underperforming, the Yankees are very dangerous.

Truth be told, both Stanton and Sanchez were showing signs of snapping out of their funks even before their home runs Wednesday night. Stanton went deep Tuesday night as well, he had a four-hit game Monday night, and he's gone 12 for 30 (.400) with three homers in his last eight games overall. He's hitting a very Giancarlo-like .286/.354/.614 with seven homers in June.

Sanchez has not had as much recent success as Stanton but he has been making some very loud contact. Tuesday night he had line drives hit 102.8 mph and 121.1 mph -- that 121.1 mph liner is the hardest hit ball in baseball this season -- go for outs, and, in the fourth inning Wednesday, Kyle Seager robbed Sanchez and turned this rocket into a 5-4-3 double play.

That's the way things had been going for Sanchez prior to the home run. He was making loud contact and not being rewarded. That's why he looked so relieved following the homer. Over the last 10 days Sanchez has an expected .419 weighted on-base average based on his exit velocity and launch angle. His actual weighted on-base average during that time is .328. Translation: He's been crushing the ball and the hits haven't been falling in. There's some bad luck in his recent performance.

Down seasons happen, and maybe Stanton can't handle the pressure of New York after all, but he and especially Sanchez are far too talented to continue hitting like they have so far this season. What's done is done. Sanchez has hit .197 with a .297 on-base percentage through 71 team games. There's no changing that. Going forward though, it's not unreasonable to expect either Stanton or Sanchez to perform better given their careers to date. There are signs both are starting to snap out of it.