Yankees return to ender as streak hits six
Veteran Gardner delivers with walk-off hit for the second time in three days
NEW YORK— Aaron Judge slowly circled his New York Yankee teammates Saturday, looking uncertain about joining the crowd that had gathered around Brett Gardner. Remembering the dental damage from a similar celebration, Judge covered his mouth as he finally entered a sea of high-fives and a shower of sunflower seeds to congratulate Gardner on his second game-ending hit in three days. When Gardner beat the Tampa Bay Rays with a home run in the 11th inning Thursday, one of Judge’s teeth was chipped when Gardner’s helmet hit him in the mouth during the postgame jubilation. On Saturday, Gardner administered pain only to the Rays, hitting a bases-loaded single in the ninth inning for a 5-4 win at Yankee Stadium.
“Brett Gardner just taking care of business every time,” third baseman Todd Frazier said. “He makes it look pretty easy out there. Hopefully, we keep riding that ship, and he’ll carry us right into the playoffs.”
The Yankees overcame a shaky, short outing from starter Caleb Smith — as well as the second home run in two days by Tampa Bay’s Lucas Duda, whom the Rays acquired from the New York Mets on Thursday — and recorded their sixth con- secutive victory.
Duda tied the game 4-4 in the eighth with a blast over the rightfield wall, and the Rays stranded a runner at third base in the ninth against Aroldis Chapman, who harked back to his dominant form of 2016 by firing 104-m.p.h. fastballs.
Chase Headley, who had come off the Yankees’ bench in the sixth inning and hit a two-run homer, led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk. Pinch-runner Jacoby Ellsbury stole second base, then scored the winning run after Frazier was hit by a pitch, Ronald Torreyes loaded the bases with a bunt single, and Gardner hit a line drive up the middle.
Aseries of acquisitions, call-ups and slumps has altered the roles of Ellsbury and Headley of late. Strong play by the rookie Clint Frazier has crowded the Yankees’ outfield and turned Ellsbury into a reserve. Headley, who had slumped at the plate after a strong April, found himself in a reduced rule this month when the Yankees acquired third baseman Todd Frazier from the Chicago White Sox.
Headley’s homer off Rays reliever Sergio Romo broke a 124-at-bat homerless streak. Since July 19, the day after the Frazier trade, Headley has hit a robust .414.
The Yankees remain unsettled in their rotation.
When Smith joined the team after Michael Pineda went on the disabled list with a season-ending elbow injury, the Yankees began auditioning Smith to be their fifth starter.
On Saturday, Smith made his second major league start and his debut at Yankee Stadium, and gave up a home run to Tampa Bay’s Peter Bourjos on his second pitch of the game. And as was the case last Sunday in Seattle, Smith did not last past the fourth inning — Girardi pulled him after 31⁄ 3.
“I knew I had a loaded bullpen is what I did, so I took advantage of it,” Girardi said of his decision to pull Smith early.