Yankees top Tigers in 10 innings on Josh Donaldson's sacrifice fly
New York Yankees' Joey Gallo hits a two-run home run against the Detroit Tigers during the fifth inning of an MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Yankees, after last Tuesday’s outlier against the Angels, went back to not scoring a heck of a lot of runs for Jordan Montgomery.
Not that it mattered.
Not much has of late when it comes to derailing them.
Although Montgomery could not match the recent excellence of his fellow starting pitchers, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers on Sunday afternoon. Josh Donaldson’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning gave them a 5-4 walk-off victory in front of 38,030, most of whom were in their seats at first pitch despite the unusual 11:30 a.m. start.
“At the end of the day, both teams have to go through it,” Donaldson said of the late-morning start. “Thankfully for us, it feels a little bit better when you win that game.”
Aaron Judge started the 10th on second and went to third on Anthony Rizzo’s infield single up the middle, which got past shortstop Javier Baez but was backhanded by a diving Jonathan Schoop. Donaldson then ended it with a long fly to left that was run down on the warning track by Willi Castro, who had no play at the plate.
“The bigger statement for us is just being able to play any time of the day,” said Rizzo, who scored the tying run in the eighth after an adventurous trip around the bases. “Being able to get up and go [for] an 11:30 game is tough.''
The Yankees (39-15) completed a 6-0 homestand that improved them to an MLB-best 23-7 at home and a season-high 24 games over .500.They have won 10 of their last 12 games, have allowed 16 runs in their last 11, lead the second-place Blue Jays by 7 1/2 games and are eight ahead of the Rays.
Said Rizzo, "6-0, we talk about it all the time — we want to dominate at home. The more we dominate here, the more the city is in a buzz and the fan base is in a buzz.”
Montgomery, who received seven runs of support in the Yankees' 9-1 win over the Angels last Tuesday night — his most since getting seven runs on April 5, 2021 — allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.02.
The lefthander, who departed with one out and none on in the seventh and the score tied at 2-2, made it 10 straight starts by the rotation in which the starter lasted at least six innings. In the last 11 games, Yankees starting pitchers have allowed 10 runs, 32 hits and 13 walks in 75 2/3 innings, a 1.19 ERA and 0.59 WHIP.
“It’s fun,” Montgomery said. “Everybody’s going out there and throwing strikes. We’re just trying to keep building off of each other.”
Clarke Schmidt, who took over for Montgomery in the seventh, allowed a leadoff double by Willi Castro in the eighth and was replaced with one out by Miguel Castro. He struck out Schoop but allowed an RBI single to center by Miguel Cabrera (three hits) on a 1-and-2 pitch. Pinch runner Kody Clemens went to second on a wild pitch and scored the go-ahead run on Baez’s single to right.
In the bottom of the inning, Michael Fulmer got ahead 0-and-2 before throwing a 1-and-2 pitch that hit Rizzo on a bounce. After Donaldson struck out, Rizzo stole second and hustled to third when Schoop couldn’t handle the throw. Rizzo broke for home on Gleyber Torres' slow chopper to third, and when Harold Castro’s throw to the plate sailed high and couldn't be caught by Eric Haase, he slid in with the tying run.
Joey Gallo hit a two-run homer in the fifth to tie it at 2-2, the slumping outfielder’s first home run since May 15.
“Just some winning things happened,” said Aaron Boone, referencing, among other things, Montgomery’s strong outing, Rizzo making things happen on the bases and pinch hitter Matt Carpenter drawing a walk that loaded the bases with one out in the seventh (after Gallo struck out on three pitches for the second out, DJ LeMahieu’s four-pitch walk gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead). “Just a lot of guys with a hand in a victory again.”
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.
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