Finally! After three games plus another six innings or so of looking helpless against the Rockies, the Yankees rallied from a four-run deficit late Wednesday afternoon to earn a 9-8 walk-off win. Both clubs erased four-run deficits. It was New York’s second walk-off win of the season.
Taking Advantage, For Once
I couldn’t tell you how many times this season I’ve written that the Yankees had a bunch of opportunities to score runs, but failed to take advantage. They’ve gone through some big time slumps with runners in scoring position, such as their 0-for-10 effort Tuesday night. More than anything, the lack of offense has led to the team’s sub-.500 start to the season. They’ve wasted too many chances overall.
The Yankees did take advantage of a prime run-scoring opportunity in the second inning Wednesday, when the Rockies gift-wrapped the bases loaded with no outs. Jon Gray sandwiched walks to Brian McCann and Didi Gregorius (!) around a Starlin Castro single. It was a ground ball single shortstop Trevor Story probably should have stopped even though he had to dive. I thought he was going to reel it in and was surprised when he didn’t.
Chase Headley wasted zero time capitalizing on the bases loaded opportunity. He unloaded on Gray’s first pitch fastball and hit a grand slam — the Yankees’ first grand slam of the season, I should add — into Monument Park in dead center. Swinging at the first pitch immediately after a walk tends to annoy some people, but that first pitch is often the best one to hit because the pitcher wants to get ahead in the count. Headley put a hurting on Gray and gave the Yankees a quick 4-0 lead.
Sabathia’s Bad Day
The Rockies answered back with two runs in the top of the third and it was at least somewhat CC Sabathia’s fault. Nick Hundley knocked a single to center, then when No. 9 hitter Brandon Barnes laid down a bunt, Sabathia rushed the throw and airmailed first base. Bunting down four runs isn’t the smartest move, but it worked out that time. The bad throw gave Colorado runners on second and third with no outs, and Charlie Blackmon made Sabathia pay for the error by blooping this pitch …
… into shallow center for a two-run single. One of the two runs was unearned. What can you do about that? It was a very good two-strike slider down and away, yet Blackmon just threw his bat at the ball and it fell in. So it goes. Baseball can be a jerk like that sometimes. That cut the lead to 4-2.
That 4-2 lead lasted only another half-inning. The Rockies hung a three-spot on Sabathia in the fourth thanks to a walk (Story), a single (Mark Reynolds), and a three-run homer (Hundley). CC missed with a two-strike cutter — he was trying to bust Hundley inside but caught too much of the plate — and paid. It was only the third homer Sabathia has given up this season. That 0.3 HR/9 wasn’t going to last forever, not in Yankee Stadium.
Sabathia finished the afternoon having allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits and two walks in 4.1 innings. He had allowed six runs total in his previous seven starts, and this was the first time all year he allowed more than three earned runs in a start. Sabathia was bound to have a bad start at some point. It happens. He’s still sitting on a 2.71 ERA (3.45 FIP) through 12 starts and 69.2 innings.
Battle of the Bullpens
The middle of Joe Girardi’s bullpen is shockingly bad. This staff invokes memories of the mid-2000s Yankees, who had a bullpen that was basically Mariano Rivera and a bunch of guys no one ever wanted on the mound. Anthony Swarzak replaced Sabathia in the fifth and immediately allowed a run-scoring double (Story) and a two-run homer (Ryan Raburn) to give the Rockies an 8-4 lead.
Thankfully, the middle of the Rockies bullpen is somehow worse than the middle of the Yankees bullpen, so the Yankees were able to put four runs on the board in the seventh. Carlos Beltran’s three-run dinger was the biggest blow, but Didi’s two-out, two-strike single tied the game 8-8. Gregorius has been so, so good of late. It was a perfect piece of hitting the other way for the game-tying hit. Perfect. Just perfect.
Rob Refsnyder struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning — it was a pretty crummy at-bat, strike three was a check swing on a pitch at his eyes — and the Yankees wasted an Ellsbury leadoff double the next inning. Brett Gardner popping up a bunt didn’t help matters, but you know, the guy had reached base three times already (and four times Tuesday) and he came into the game hitting .365 in June. Ellsbury’s scoring on any single. Let Gardner swing the bat you nincompoops.
Anyway, Castro took matters into his own hands in the bottom of the ninth, sending Jason Motte’s second pitch of the game out to left field for a leadoff walk-off home run. It was gone off the bat. Had the good sound and everything. Castro hasn’t been great this year, but he’s showing more power than ever before, and we saw it there. The walk-off tater was his tenth home run of the season. He hit eleven last year, 14 the year before, and ten the year before that.
Leftovers
Not to be forgotten moment: Gardner throwing Blackmon out at the plate in the first inning. Blackmon started the game with a single, moved up on D.J. LeMahieu’s bunt, and was waved around on Nolan Arenado’s single to left. It was an aggressive send — it was a hard-hit single that got to Gardner quickly — and Gardner made the throw. Blackmon was out by several feet. Saved a run.
Not to be forgotten scary moment: Sabathia rolled his right ankle delivering a pitch in the fifth inning. He stumbled a bit and the first thought was his knee — how could it not be after his injuries? — but replays showed it was his ankle. Sabathia stayed in the game after talking to trainer Steve Donohue and whatnot. That was scary. Losing Sabathia to an injury would have been no fun. He went for x-rays and they came back negative, by the way.
The trio of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman tossed three perfect innings and struck out two each. They were going to pitch because they needed the work, but once the Yankees tied things up in the seventh, it made their appearances more meaningful. I know no manager would use Betances in the fifth, but man, Dellin pitching with a four-run deficit in the seventh while Swarzak pitches with a one-run deficit in the fifth makes no sense.
The Yankees put 19 runners on base and drew a season-high tying seven walks. Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit except Refsnyder, and everyone in the starting lineup had a walk except Ellsbury, Alex Rodriguez, and Castro. One day after going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, they went 4-for-11 (.364) in those spots in this game, but one of those four was an infield single that didn’t score a run. Go figure.
And finally, we saw another catcher’s interference, and believe it or not, it was not Ellsbury. Refsnyder did it in the seventh, ahead of Beltran’s three-run homer. There have now been 22 CI in baseball this season. Six Ellsbury, one by Refsnyder, and 15 by the other 29 teams combined.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
ESPN has the box score and updated standings while MLB.com is the place to go for the video highlights. Don’t miss our Bullpen Workload or Announcer Standings pages either. Here’s the wild win probability graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
The Yankees have yet another off-day Thursday, their third in the last ten days. The homestand resumes Friday night with the first of three against the Twins. Masahiro Tanaka and finesse lefty Tommy Milone are the scheduled starting pitchers. If you want to catch that game or any of the other six games on the homestand live, check out RAB Tickets.
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