The Yankees these days have lived by the home run and died by the home run, so there was something encouraging about this particular walk-off win.
A day after Brian McCann and Didi Gregorius hit ninth-inning home runs to tie and win the game, the Yankees did it again, in somewhat muted fashion: This time, with two outs in the ninth, with Chase Headley 90 feet away, Texas reliever Tony Barnette threw a pitch that skittered by catcher Robinson Chirinos for a passed ball that allowed the winning run to score. It gave the Yankees a 2-1 win at the Stadium.
Headley walked to lead off the ninth against Barnette and was sacrificed to second by Didi Gregorius. Aaron Hicks walked and Starlin Castro grounded out to first to move Headley over.
And that was all the Yankees would need. They move to .500 with a win against the best team in the American League West and, much like they did Wednesday, showed a resilience that will serve them well in the coming, defining weeks.
Before all the drama, Michael Pineda, as has been his peculiar formula, had a rocky first inning but settled considerably after. He gave up a leadoff home run to Shin-Soo Choo, on a 1-and-2 fastball, and then, one batter later, a single to Nomar Mazara. Mazara moved to second on a wild pitch and, with two outs, Prince Fielder walked, but Pineda got Rougned Odor to strike out swinging. That, apparently, established all the pattern Pineda needed.
Relying more heavily on his crisp slider in later innings, Pineda was sterling. He allowed nothing after that first inning, save for a pair of walks in the fourth, but struck out Mitch Moreland on three straight sliders to end the inning. Pineda struck out 12 over 92 pitches, going back again and again to that slider, to increasing effectiveness. He’s now allowed three earned runs or fewer in his last six starts, and the 12 strikeouts are his most this season.
A.J. Griffin was his match, allowing only two hits over five innings — one of those hits, though, was Gregorius’ eighth homer of the year, a solo shot to right that tied the game at 1. It was his second homer in as many days, the first of course being his walk-off, two-run home run on Wednesday, a blast that capped a five-run comeback, the Yankees’ biggest such win of the year.
But both teams wilted, even after the starters were gone, with the biggest threat coming for the Yankees in the seventh.
With two outs and Aaron Kicks on first, Carlos Beltran, still nursing his sore right hamstring, pinch hit for Ronald Torreyes and drew a walk against reliever Jake Diekman. Castro pinch ran for Beltran and then Jacoby Ellsbury walked to load the bases. Diekman took Brett Gardner to a 2-and-1 count before Gardner grounded weakly to second base to keep the game tied.
..... - Newsday