Field of Screams! Yankees suffer heartbreaking walk-off loss after rallying with two homers in 9th

DYERSVILLE, Iowa — Is this heaven?

Not for the Yankees. Not on this night.

Certainly not for their starter or closer.

For all the hype and sentimentality surrounding the first Field of Dreams Game, ultimately it was a business trip and the Yankees, who thought they had a win after getting two-run homers in the ninth inning from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton off White Sox closer Liam Hendricks, saw Zack Britton allow a walk-off, two-run homer to Tim Anderson that gave the Yankees a brutal 9-8 loss Thursday night.

"The ultimate high and then the ultimate low," Brett Gardner said in a perfect summation from the Yankees’ perspective.

Before the loss, Judge offered a cautionary note for the evening.

"It’s a whirlwind," Judge said, mentioning the fun and enjoyment of taking pictures in the corn and the like. "But then when it comes down to it, you have to prepare to play a game that matters, especially for us in the playoff hunt."

Judge was among those equal to the task, blasting a three-run homer in the third that gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Judge added the homer in the ninth, which gave him 25 this season. Joey Gallo walked, which preceded Stanton roping the first pitch he saw into the corn in left.

The eruption pushed to the side, for an inning anyway. It started with a miserable outing by lefty Andrew Heaney, a trade deadline acquisition from the Angels. He allowed three homers, the third of which put the Yankees in a 7-3 hole. He has allowed eight homers in 15 innings as a Yankee.

On a humid night with little breeze, the ball flew, with the White Sox (68-48) hitting four homers and the Yankees (63-52) getting two from Judge and one each from Stanton and Brett Gardner.

Judge, who Wednesday said, "I wish we were playing three games" here rather than just the one, raved again about the event before the game Thursday, saying playing near the site of the 1989 movie was "a dream come true."

SEE PHOTOSSee the scenes from the Field of Dreams Game

And the visuals from the night were indeed stunning at the temporary venue, adjacent to the site of the movie, which sat 7,911. From the regulation-sized diamond resting quite natural-looking abutting a cornfield to the hand-operated scoreboard in right-center, to the house and diamond from the movie sitting that same cornfield-distance away, a sizeable number of players from both sides made liberal use of their cell phone cameras before the game.

Players, wearing throwback uniforms circa 1919 (yes, the year of the Black Sox scandal that forms part of the movie’s plot) from both clubs emerged from the cornstalks in rightfield and lined up on the field. Kevin Costner preceded them onto the field from the cornstalks and spoke to the players and sellout crowd.

DJ LeMahieu, as well as Judge and manager Aaron Boone, said among the most memorable parts of the trip in was when the team buses made their way down the single-lane road to get to the site and were greeted by people by the side of the road holding banners and signs.

"A lot of people out in their driveways," said LeMahieu, who called the site an "iconic place" for a baseball player. "You can tell the excitement in the area to have a game like this going on in the area."

Said Judge: "That’s a time guys are usually on their phones…this time guys were just glued to the windows, staring out at the scenery."

For a variety of reasons, most of them related to logistics, neither team planned to spend all that much time here, treating the game as the business trip it ultimately was. The Yankees stayed in Kansas City, where on Wednesday night they took two of three from the Royals in winning a completed series for the ninth time in 10 tries.

On Thursday morning, the Yankees flew to Dubuque Regional airport, which is about 35 minutes from the ballpark. They planned to fly to Chicago, where the three-game series will continue Saturday night, immediately after the game. The White Sox, well on their way to coasting to the AL Central title, arrived Thursday morning from Minneapolis with plans to depart for home right after.

But first came the uniqueness of Thursday’s game, which caused more syrupy verbiage – written and spoken – to spill forth from much of the baseball media than anything in recent memory.

Players for the most part were on board with it all and those who were not – and, despite the narrative surrounding the event, there were more than a few from both organizations who would have preferred a traditional off day in Chicago Thursday and then contesting the full series there – were kept far from the MLB-run televised press conferences.

Still, the majority opinion mirrored Boone’s, who called the entire scene, "breathtaking."

"I would say I came in with pretty high expectations," Boone said, "and they were certainly met. It’s really cool. It’s an honor to be here."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.