Bombers eliminated by late HR as Rays get revenge on Chapman, advance to face Astros in ALCS
SAN DIEGO — For the second straight year, the Yankees season was endedbyahomerungiven up by Aroldis Chapman. Friday night, it came with a little bit of revenge. Mike Brosseau had an 101-mile an hour Chapman fastball right behind his head that led to a benches-clearing argument a month ago. He crushed a one of Chapman’s 100-mph fastballs Friday night for a gamewinning home run.
His homer gave the Rays a 2-1 win over the Yankees in Game 5 of a the American League Division Series at Petco Park.
Brosseau said that incident with Chapman was in the past in his postgame interviews, but as recently as last week, the Rays were still privately fuming about the fact that Chapman hadhissuspensiondeferreduntil next year.
Chapman said that their history was not a factor. Brosseau worked a 10-pitch at-bat before beating the Yankees closer.
“I wasn’t thinking about (the Brosseau incident) at all. That happened about a month ago. This is the way it worked out,” Chapman said from the Yankees video-conference room as the Rays celebrated on the field to theYankees’signaturesong,New York, New York. “He put a good swing on that pitch. I’ve got to give him credit.”
The Rays, who won the AL East and dominated the Yankees all year, now advance to the American League Championship Series where they will facetheAstrosbeginningSunday night. That best-of-seven series will also be played here at Petco Park to maintain the MLB playoff bubble to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Yankees’ season ends in disappointment for the third straight year. Last year, it was Chapman giving up the home run to Jose Altuve in the AL Championship Series that ended the season.
“It’s awful. It’s cruel, you know, it really is,” Yankees managerAaronBoonesaidofthe ending here in an empty ballpark nearly 3,000 miles away from home. “So many people that I’m grateful for who pour so much into this, and especially in such a crazy year.”
The Yankees came into this year with World Series expectations, but the Rays and some injuries got in their way. Their lack of starting pitching depth was exposedinthisbest-of-fiveseries. They lost Luis Severino in spring trainingandJamesPaxtoninAugust. Their attempt to piggy back rookie Deivi Garcia with J.A. Happ in Game 2 imploded. Only a stellar start in Game 4 by Jordan Montgomery got them to the final game of the series.
They had to ask their ace Gerrit Cole to pitch for the first time ever on short rest Friday night to save their season. He was terrific after a shaky first inning, only giving up his no-hit bid in the fifth when Austin Meadows homered just over the right-field fence.
Cole earned his pinstripes with the gutsy performance and he felt the pain of his first year with the Yankees coming up short.
“It’s a big disappointment. Not not the way we drew it up,” Cole said. “Really hard-fought series, that sometimes can make it tougher to swallow.”
The Yankees needed a perfect pitching plan to get through this series. They got a strong 5.1-inningstartfromColeonshortrest. They got 1.1 scoreless from Zack Britton, but the plan was spoiled in the seventh. Gio Urshela bobbled a ground ball by the Rays’ No. 9 hitter Mike Zunino with one out in the seventh. That simple—andrare—mistakewasthe wrinkle in the plan.
Instead of being able to have Britton finish up the seventh, with low-ball hitter Brandon Lowe coming up, Aaron Boone went to Chapman.
For their part, the Rays’ pitching plan worked to almost perfection, beginning with starting Tyler Glasnow on just two days’ rest and turning to their highleverage relievers early and aggressively.
They quieted the Yankee bats. The Yankees had a runner in scoring position just once, in the sixth inning, and they failed to score. Looking for some offense, Boone pinch hit Mike Ford for Kyle Higashioka to lead off the eighth, which brought Gary Sanchez into the game, playing for first time since Game 2.
Aaron Judge had given the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. He hit his third home run of the postseason, second of this series off Nick Anderson to the opposite field.
For Judge, it was another year ending in disappointment. This time it was even more bitter coming at the hands of the Rays.
“This is another tough loss, especially to a division rival,” Judge said. “I can look back through this series at countless opportunities we had. I take full responsibility for that, being a leader of this team.”