You thought the trades were the most exciting thing about the Yankees the past few days? Boy, how about tonight’s game? The Yankees were trailing 5-3 heading into the bottom of 8th, and they managed to tie it up. They scored a go-ahead run in the 10th and Dellin Betances barely held on to get the save.
Taking the lead
The Yankees almost had an electric start to the game. Almost. On the second pitch of the game, Brett Gardner hit a big fly that hit the center field fence and trickled away from CF Justin Ruggiano. Gardner got to third pretty easily as they were just relaying the ball into the infield when he started to race towards home. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud got the ball and tagged Gardner out just before his hand got on the plate. It wasn’t like Gardner was slacking on base either – he rounded the base in 14.89 seconds, which is fastest home-to-home speed recorded by StatCast this season. I just think that Mets were in a better position to field it than the Yanks had thought. Oh well.
The Mets got the first run of the game in the bottom of second. Wilmer Flores got a hold of a fastball and drove it out to give them a 1-0 lead. At least on the mound, that was the only mistake CC Sabathia made prior to the sixth inning. The Yankees responded in the fourth with a run of their own. Jacoby Ellsbury led off with double and reached third on Brian McCann fly out. On a 0-1 count versus Didi Gregorius, Verrett threw a sinker way inside and d’Arnaud missed it for a wild pitch, scoring Ellsbury.
The Yankees plated two more in the fifth. With two outs and Rob Refsnyder on second, Gardner hit a double to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead and Ellsbury followed it up with an RBI single (Gardner reached second on Alejandro De Aza’s bobbling error). 3-1 Yankees. Sure, this isn’t the same team but the Yankees were making things happen tonight. However, they are still a flawed bunch.
Falling apart
CC was throwing a pretty solid game until the bottom sixth. Around then, while his slider was still snapping well, his fastball command was, well, not good. After Flores reached on an infield single, he allowed another single to d’Arnaud, but he hit it much better this time. The 91 mph fastball was up in the zone and he hit it squarely to right field.
Sabathia got himself some breathing room by easily striking out James Loney, courtesy of that nasty knockout slider that made him look silly. However, he threw yet another fastball up to Matt Reynolds that left the yard immediately. The Yankees trailed 5-3 after that three-run homer. CC got one more out and was lifted after walking … the pinch-hitting pitcher Steve Matz. That was a weird sight.
Tie Game!
The score stayed 5-3 going into the bottom of eighth. At this point, the odds against the Yanks were, well, not great. The Mets don’t necessarily have the best relief corp but the Addison Reed-Jeurys Familia combo in the eighth-ninth innings has been pretty solid. Reed came into the eighth with Gardner on and one out. Reed easily struck out Mark Teixeira to make it two outs and needed to get one more to hand it to Jeurys in the ninth. McCann, the next guy up, got a 0-1 fastball and hit it through the shift to make it runners on first and third. Next up? Probably the best hitter in the team, Didi Gregorius.
During Didi’s AB, Reed threw a wild pitch that advanced pinch-runner Ronald Torreyes to second, setting up two runners in scoring position. After a lengthy battle of fouling pitches off, Didi hit a blooper that landed between the left fielder and shortstop to bring both runners in. Wow. That reminded me so much of that Jorge Posada bloop double in the 2003 ALCS Game 7 that tied the game. The 2016 Yankees, now without some of their best players, made a thing happen!
Free Baseball!
The game headed into extra innings with no changes in scoring. The Mets sent out RHP Seth Lugo to take care of the tenth. With an Ellsbury walk and Teixeira single, Yankees were immediately in business. With A-Rod on deck, Girardi pulled him back and put in Ben Gamel to sac bunt.
Gamel, who was called up just earlier today to take Carlos Beltran’s spot, bunted it quite evenly between the baseline and the pitcher. Lugo thought he had a chance to get the lead runner out but wait … it’s Ellsbury we’re talking about. Jacoby beat the throw to third and it loaded the bases with no outs. Your usual sacrifice bunt with fielder’s choice.
Didi struck out to give Mets a sigh of relief, but Starlin Castro hit a long (I mean, really long) sac fly just a few feet away from being a grand slam to put the Yankees up 6-5. Chase Headley snared a liner that looked good off the bat but it was right towards Curtis Granderson. On to the bottom of the 10th. It’s neither Aroldis Chapman time nor Andrew Miller time. It’s … Dellin time.
Betances didn’t start great. On the third pitch of the inning, he allowed a double to Loney. The Mets, up against one of the deadliest pitchers of the league, decided to give away an out by having Reynolds sac bunt to advance Loney to third. A HBP to De Aza made it runners on corners with one out.
Next up was Rene Rivera, who took over Familia’s hitting spot after the ninth. He hit a grounder that bounced in front of the mound and went right into Dellin’s glove. Holy moly. If that went past Dellin, the game was surely going to be tied. Instead, it only advanced the runner from first to second.
With two outs and two runners in scoring position, Dellin did what he’s known for – being nasty and striking hitters out. He got Granderson out on three pitches – a fastball and two low curveballs. Game, 6-5 Yankees. This will probably be one of the top 10 games of the season. It wasn’t great for your heart but I would watch again.
Leftovers
Tyler Clippard, back in the pinstripes after being traded after the 2007 season, pitched in the bottom of 7th tonight. Fun fact: he made his Yankee debut in 2007 against the Mets in the old Shea Stadium. Tonight, he made his re-debut (if that’s a thing) with the Yanks against the Mets in Citi Field. He came into the game with an underwhelming 4.30 ERA but I personally think he can be serviceable – the dude had a 2.80 ERA up to mid-July before running into a series of nutty outings. He threw a scoreless inning with two K’s tonight. I’ll take that any night.
Adam Warren, another Yankee recently re-acquired through trade, threw two scoreless frames. I honestly feel like he could be back being a decent bullpen arm back in Bronx.
Box score, highlights, WPA and standings
Here’s tonight’s box score, video highlights, WPA and updated standings.
Source: FanGraphs
Up next
The Yankees and Mets will play the second game of this four-game series Tuesday night. Aces Masahiro Tanaka and Jacob deGrom will be on the mound.
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