Yankees blow lead in ninth, hold on in 10th to beat White Sox in another thriller
Joey Gallo of the Yankees is congratulated by Aaron Judge following his two-run home run during the 10th inning of a game against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday in Chicago. Credit: Getty Images/Nuccio DiNuzzo
CHICAGO — The Yankees’ bullpen again couldn’t take advantage of a homer by Aaron Judge in the late innings against the White Sox.
But the Yankees — Judge and Joey Gallo in particular — kept coming, and they managed to take a knee-knocking 7-5 victory in 10 innings in front of a loud sellout crowd of 38,477 on Saturday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Judge (three hits, four RBIs) lined a bullet of a solo home run to centerfield off Craig Kimbrel to break a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning. With the White Sox down to their final strike, the Yankees still held that lead — until Jose Abreu tied it with a home run on a 3-and-2 curveball from Chad Green.
In the 10th, Judge lined a single to drive in ghost runner Brett Gardner for a 5-4 lead. That was the fourth time in the game that Judge had given the Yankees a lead. Gallo followed with his second homer of the night and 28th of the season, a two-run shot off Liam Hendriks that made it 7-4.
(With the Yankees down to their final out in the ''Field of Dreams'' game Thursday in Dyersville, Iowa, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had hit two-run homers off Hendriks to produce an 8-7 lead before Tim Anderson hit a walk-off two-run shot off Zack Britton in the bottom of the inning.)
Britton approached Aaron Boone after Thursday night's failure and told him he didn't deserve to be the closer, but he wound up in that role Saturday anyway. He had a three-run cushion to work with as he tried to finish it off.
He could not.
With one out, Britton walked Brian Goodwin and Luis Robert ripped an RBI single to center to make it 7-5 and bring the winning run to the plate in Andrew Vaughn, who walked on four pitches to load the bases.
In came rookie Albert Abreu to face pinch hitter Seby Zavala, who lined softly to DJ LeMahieu at first for the second out.
The final batter? Anderson, of course. He got ahead 2-and-0 before grounding a 2-and-2 pitch to third baseman Tyler Wade, who fired to second baseman Rougned Odor for the force play that ended it.
Perhaps Britton owes teammate Abreu a steak dinner or two. Or 10.
Abreu said through his interpreter: "A lot of adrenaline and nervousness as well . . . You have to keep your breathing in check. You want to focus on each pitch and the execution of each pitch. If you're able to do that, it gets you through a tough situation like the one tonight."
Said Judge, "A save situation, sold out crowd on the road, bases loaded, that’s not ideal for the reliever. Nine out of 10 times, he's giving up some runs. He showed a lot of heart, a lot of guts against one of the best lineups in the game. Shows you the type of pitcher he is under pressure."
"Our team has heart and they’re tough,'' Boone said. "This has not been easy for us this season at all. But they’re tough. They keep grinding away and keep throwing punches."
The Yankees remained 2 1/2 games (one in the loss column) behind the Red Sox, who hold the American League's second wild card.
Gallo said of the series: "I was getting text messages [saying], man, this is a crazy series. I’ve never played in the playoffs, but I would imagine this is what it feels like. It has that atmosphere of every pitch matters. Neither one of these teams is giving up no matter what the score is.''
LeMahieu led off the game by slicing a double to right, went to third on Gardner’s long flyout to right and scored on Judge’s sacrifice fly to center.
"When he’s locked in, he can carry a team,'' starter Jameson Taillon said of Judge. "He’s a big-game player and these are big games for us right now."
Gallo, just 7-for-50 (.140) since joining the Yankees, followed by launching a 1-and-2 changeup to right to make it 2-0.
Taillon gave one back in the bottom half. Anderson led off with a single and went to third on Abreu’s one-out double. Eloy Jimenez hit a ground smash that Taillon deflected to LeMahieu, who completed the 1-4-3 putout that brought in Anderson to make it 2-1.
The White Sox tied it in the second when Robert crushed a 2-and-2 fastball to right-center for a home run.
The Yankees took a 3-2 lead in the third on Gardner's two-out triple and Judge's RBI double, but the White Sox retied it in the bottom half when Cesar Hernandez reached on an infield single, went to third on Abreu’s double to left-center and scored on Jimenez’s sacrifice fly to center.
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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