Game 80 | 43-37, 1st : The evening began with a moving rendition of the National Anthem by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and ended with a dramatic 3-run walk off home run by Brian McCann.
In something we don’t say around here very often — Chasen Shreve — the vulture — allowed the go-ahead run which was charged to Adam Warren, and one of his own for a 5-3 deficit heading into the bottom of the 12th. That’s when the magic happened.
Here’s the box score, full recap, and video highlights.
The Set Up
The Knockout
Yankees 7, Rays 5
[custom_list icon=”thumbs-o-up” iconcolor=”#014284″]
- Brian McCann In addition to his story book ending blast in the 12th inning tonight, McCann’s rock-solid work behind the plate continues. He threw out 2 runners attempting to steal, including this nab of Grady Sizemore on the back end of a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play.
- Mark Teixeira Monster 3-run homer in the 8th to tie the game at 3. A no doubter, his 20th of the season bringing his RBI total to an American League leading 57.
- Masahiro Tanaka After a shaky first inning which began to look like the sum of all fears regarding the New York ace were coming to fruition, Tanaka settled down into a nice pitching dual with Yankee-nemisis Chris Archer. Tanaka pitched thru 6 full innings, striking out 5 but allowing 3 earned runs before getting lifted.
- Mark Teixeira Monster 3-run homer in the 8th to tie the game at 3. A no doubter, his 20th of the season bringing his RBI total to an American League leading 57.
- Didi Gregorius A 2-3 night with a walk, Gregorius is hitting at a .295 clip over his last 27 games. This is the Didi that Tony LaRussa was promising New York fans would be seeing.
- The Replay Rule You kiddin’ me? Never saw anything like Evan Longoria getting called out in the 11th after doubling to left. The throw came in a split second late to second, and Didi Gregorius kept his glove on Longoria’s leg and it looked like the play was over. Didi kept the glove there while Longoria lifted his foot no less than 1 inch off the base while repositioning his footing. Someone in the Yankees replay monitoring booth caught this, and Joe Girardi challenged the play. After a few minutes, the umps signaled Longoria was indeed out. Amazing. This rule, love it or hate it, has really changed the makeup of the game.
[/custom_list]
[custom_list icon=”thumbs-o-down” iconcolor=”#F00;”]
- Opposition Research Chris Archer owns the Yankees. A 5-0 record (2.02 ERA), and 3-0 (1.91) at Yankee Stadium. The hitters look lost against him. Every. Single. Time. At what point do Yankee hitting coaches or the players themselves say “Let’s try something different against this guy!”? Every time they face him it’s the same story. Hope the Yankee starter can match zeros with Archer, or not get into a hole deeper than 2 or 3 runs, then hope to crack their bullpen. Tonight that’s exactly what happened but you can’t live by this approach against Archer.
[/custom_list]
“Any time you’ve got a three-game series, especially at home, you really need to win those, and if you lose the first it’s hard to win two out of three. Like I said, if you lose that (kind of) game, it’s hard to go to sleep tonight and then you’ve got to get up early tomorrow and get after it again. It’ll be a little bit easier to fall asleep tonight, for sure.” ‐ Brett Gardner, who called this ‘the biggest win of the year’ (h/t: Mike Zacchio/LoHud)
FOOTNOTES : Tonight’s walkoff by the Yankees was their first of the season, and last since Derek Jeter’s in Boston last September…