GAME 45: It was baseball on the North side of Chitown like it was since 1916. Before the lights were put up in 1988 for night games. An afternoon ballgame under a glorious blue sky. This one would be the last of the 2014 season between two of the sport’s most venerable franchises, with the unlikely exception of a World Series meeting. Anyone who bought a ticket got their money’s worth, as the 13-inning affair lasted just over 4 1/2 hours, and they got to witness Derek Jeter‘s final game at Wrigley Field to boot.
The second of two against the Cubs, the Yankees bullpen held serve long enough to wait for something — anything — from the scuffling offense. The first burst of encouragement came in the top of the 9th, as New York plated two to tie the game, but stranding the go-ahead run at second. As the Yanks pitching stiffened over innings 9, 10, 11 and 12, the bats were kept in check by Chicago’s pen.
In the 13th, with ex-Yankee Jose Veras on the mound, Brendan Ryan scored from third on a wild pitch that John Ryan Murphy somehow got out of the way of. Here’s the video. The pivotal moment was created by a textbook sacrifice bunt from Preston Claiborne (who said he hasn’t been in a batter’s box for 7 years!). Click here for a video link.
Winning pitcher Claiborne was quoted here:
“Everyone contributed today. That was a grind, especially coming off a long game last night and the rain — but everybody stepped up and did their job, defense especially. It was a good win for us.”
Here’s the box score and game recap. Great work on the long day by Chad Jennings over at LoHud, check out his post game notes …
GAMEDAY NOTES: Derek Jeter’s day ended with a 1-7 line score, but the great crowd at Wrigley gave The Captain a standing ‘O’ every time he came to plate from the 6th inning on — thinking each would be his last at-bat there … Jacoby Ellsbury was 1-23 coming into game, but got off the schneid with two late hits … Yangervis Solarte is doing nothing to hurt his All-Star Game write-in possibility, going 2-4 with two walks and timely hitting, upping his BA to .319 …
Tomorrow the club goes a few clicks South for a four game Memorial Day weekend set against the Pale Hose. And Chris Sale in game one. Great. Let’s go, Yan-kees!
