YANKS’ FINISH IS FRANTASTIC
Headley’s dash home beats Giants after pen falters
It is rare for the Yankees to lose leads with any of their top-three relievers on the mound. For them to pull out a win despite that seems even rarer.
But that’s what the Yankees did Friday night in the Bronx, squeaking out a 3-2 win after Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller each gave up a run to erase Masahiro Tanaka’s six shutout innings. Chase Headley scored from second on a bouncer and throwing error by Brandon Crawford in the eighth before Aroldis Chapman worked around a leadoff double to notch his 20th save.
“These are tough losses if you lose games like this, especially when you had the lead and you weren’t able to hold it when you used your guys,” Joe Girardi said. “But that’s not the case, and I don’t have to worry about it.”
With their future still uncertain as the Aug. 1 trade deadline draws nearer, the Yankees are 7-3 in their last 10 games and got back to two games over .500 at 49-47 while handing the NL West-leading Giants (57-39) their six straight loss. With Toronto’s loss, the Yanks pulled to within 4.5 games of the second wild-card spot.
Betances began the seventh with a walk and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch. Miller gave up a game-tying RBI double to pinch-hitter Mac Williamson with two outs in the eighth. Miller got ahead 0-2 with two fastballs and threw three sliders out of the strike zone before Williamson ripped a fastball off the wall in left. Brett Gardner played the ball well off the wall and got the ball in quickly to prevent Grant Green from scoring
the go-ahead run on the play. Miller then struck out Ramiro Pena to end the inning.
“I think Gardy won the game playing that ball off the wall,” said Miller, who allowed just his seventh earned run of the season.
Gardner slid to try to catch Gregor Blanco’s hit to start the ninth but couldn’t make the play. Chapman then retired the next three batters to pick up the other two-thirds of the Big Three. “Obviously these guys have been great all year for us, and sometimes they’re gonna give up a run or two,” Girardi said. “You’ve got to pick them up, and that’s what we did.”
Headley beat out an infield hit to start the eighth and advanced to second on Mark Teixeira’s walk. On what should have been a double play, Austin Romine hit a bouncer to Crawford, who got the out at second before his high throw got away from Brandon Belt, allowing the alert Headley to sprint home with the winning run.
“Sometimes on bang-bang plays, guys are trying to hurry and mistakes can happen,” Headley said. “I was anticipating it a little bit, and when it kicked away, I thought it was gonna roll far enough away that I had a chance to score.”
Starlin Castro and Carlos Beltran had RBI hits in the first and second innings, respectively, off Madison Bumgarner, who allowed two runs in seven innings.
He was outdueled by Tanaka, who allowed four hits, two walks and struck out six while working out of jams in the second, third and fourth innings. He was perfect in the fifth and sixth before being lifted at 83 pitches. It was a welcome sight for the Yanks as Tanaka, who was hitting 95 mph has struggled on four days of rest, entering with a 5.33 ERA in eight previous starts on normal rest. He has a 1.05 ERA in seven starts on five days of rest and a 3.18 ERA in four starts on six-plus days of rest.
“It’s good to go out there and be able to perform that way regardless of the days in between,” Tanaka said through an interpreter.
When the Yankees lost the first two games out of the break to Boston on this crucial 10game home stand, it seemed like their season was slipping away. Girardi then publicly challenged his club and the Yanks have won five of six since. The trade deadline is nine days way. “I’ve said all along this club is resilient,” Girardi said. “Now we’ve got to keep going forward.”