A-Rod's HR in 15th gives Yanks win over Red Sox
Photo credit: John Dunn | Alex Rodriguez, left, celebrates his 15th-inning, walkoff home run against the Red Sox with Robinson Cano.
Classic Yankees-Red Sox moments in NY
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As the collage of the Yankees' nine previous walk-off victories this season played on the big screen in centerfield between the top and bottom half of the ninth inning, the sellout crowd stood and roared, anticipating, and hoping for No. 10.
They got it - six innings and more than two hours later.
Derek Jeter led off the inning with a bloop single and scored on A-Rod's homer that ended the 5 hour, 33 minute game.
“I’m surprised there were so many fans left at the end,” Jeter said.
He smiled.
“When I was on first, someone was yelling at me to steal a base. I was lucky I was still standing up at first. But the fans were outstanding.”
The Yankees (67-42), who used six pitchers, won their fifth straight and increased their lead over the Red Sox to a season-best 4½ games. Rodriguez received the obligatory whipped crème pie to the face from A.J. Burnett, the night's starter who pitched 72/3 innings of one-hit ball.
It was Rodriguez's 573rd home run, which moved him into a tie for ninth place on the all-time list with Harmon Killebrew.
“I’ve never seen a game like this,” said Eric Hinske, pretty much speaking for the Yankees clubhouse. “That’s the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of.”
Hinske nearly won it in the 14th when he lined one to rightfield with two on and one out, but J.D. Drew made a fine running catch.
“That was when I thought the game was never going to end,” Jeter said. “I don’t know how he made that play. That was a tough one.”
Melky Cabrera was next and came within inches of winning it, lining a Tazawa pitch just inches foul down the rightfield line. Cabrera then struck out.
“That was a pretty weird game,” Dustin Pedroia said. “I can’t believe these two offenses couldn’t score any runs.”
That was mostly because of the starters, Burnett and Josh Beckett, who were long gone by the time the game was decided but still in many ways the story of the night.
After totaling 19 runs and 26 hits on Thursday night, the Red Sox and Yankees matched zeros for most of Friday night. They went into extra innings scoreless, the first time that has happened in this rivalry since 1976.
The matchup of former Marlins teammates brought out the best in both pitchers, who alternated zeros and left with the game scoreless.
Beckett allowed four hits in seven innings before giving way to Hideki Okajima in the eighth.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt in a couple starts, arm-wise,” said Burnett, who walked six and struck out six. “That’s probably why I was erratic in the first couple [innings], but I was able to find myself. I never got frustrated so that was big.”
Each pitcher at times gave the opposition hopes of scratching out a run before dashing them.
Burnett allowed Jacoby Ellsbury to lead off the game with a single - the Red Sox didn't get another hit until David Ortiz's single off Mariano Rivera in the ninth - then walked Pedroia. Burnett got Victor Martinez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, which sent Ellsbury to third. Burnett then issued his second walk of the inning, this one to Kevin Youkilis. Robinson Cano, playing deep in the grass, then bobbled Ortiz's hard grounder but still threw the lumbering designated hitter out by a step to end the inning.
The Yankees got their first hit in the third as Cano led off with a double into the rightfield corner.
Nick Swisher battled Beckett for 10 pitches before earning a walk, his team-leading 68th. Beckett escaped the jam, however, when Cabrera grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Jeter grounded out to first.
Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada started the fifth inning by hitting consecutive singles. After Cano smashed a line drive to Drew and Swisher struck out looking, Cabrera walked to load the bases. With the sellout crowd standing, Jeter grounded out to third.
Josh Reddick threw a scare into the Stadium to start the eighth, driving a 1-and-2 pitch that Burnett left over the plate into the second deck in right - but just outside the foul pole. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Reddick grounded out to Jeter.
Casey Kotchman, who homered Thursday night, pinch hit for Nick Green and struck out looking at a 95-mph fastball. But after Burnett walked Ellsbury, Girardi popped out the dugout and called for Phil Hughes to face Pedroia. As Burnett crossed the first-base line on his way to the dugout, he doffed his cap to acknowledge the thunderous ovation accompanying him.
