Yankees walk-off in 10th against Guardians as injuries mount
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The Yankees will hope Wednesday’s developments were symbolic.
A few hours after general manager Brian Cashman pleaded, “Don’t give up on us,” the Yankees did not give up on themselves after digging both an early and a late hole.
The Yankees might have lost Harrison Bader and Oswald Peraza, both of whom were pulled with apparent injuries, but they did not lose a game.
Led by Willie Calhoun, the Yankees mounted two separate comebacks to escape with a 4-3, 10-inning win to claim a series victory over the Guardians in front of 36,060 in The Bronx.
The Yankees (17-15) snapped a three-series losing streak and grabbed some momentum ahead of a faceoff this weekend with the first-place Rays at Tropicana Field.
After some excellent work from Albert Abreu, who stranded the Guardians’ ghost runner in the top of the 10th, the Yankees walked it off against the Guardians (14-17) in the bottom of the inning.
With Oswaldo Cabrera the ghost runner at second, Jake Bauers drew a walk against former Yankees farmhand Trevor Stephan before Isiah Kiner-Falefa laid down a perfect bunt that advanced both runners.
With one out, Jose Trevino pinch-hit for Kyle Higashioka and singled into center to score the game-winner.
The game had swung in the ninth, when manager Aaron Boone pulled Ron Marinaccio, who had thrown 23 pitches after he pitched a night prior, for the struggling Clay Holmes.
In a tie game, Holmes allowed a soft double to Myles Straw on a ball that just eluded left fielder Kiner-Falefa before pinch-hitter Oscar Gonzalez came through with a crushing blow.
Gonzalez blooped a perfectly placed ball into shallow left-center, which forced Bader and Kiner-Falefa to collide.
Neither slowed and neither could catch it, the ball falling for a game-tying, RBI single as Bader’s head crashed into Kiner-Falefa’s side.
Bader was checked on and pulled, with Cabrera entering to play left and Kiner-Falefa moving to center. There was no immediate update on Bader.
It was the second difficult outing in a row for Holmes, who had blown a save to open the series.
The Yankees rallied in the bottom of the ninth. Anthony Rizzo led off against Emmanuel Clase with a single up the middle, and Peraza entered as a pinch-runner.
Peraza took off for second but hurt himself on the way, successfully stealing but needing to be subbed out as he appeared hobbled.
Aaron Hicks entered as the inning’s second pinch-runner and scored a batter later, when Calhoun, who already had homered, slugged an RBI single to left.
Any win is encouraging, but the manner in which the Yankees mounted a rally boded well.
They have received virtually no production…
Read More: Yankees walk-off in 10th against Guardians as injuries mount 2023-05-04 02:18:00