Roll Reversal
Yankees bail out pen to stay Hot
With all eyes focused on the back end of the Yankees’ bullpen now that the trade deadline is barely over a week away, it was that most reliable aspect of Joe Girardi’s team that nearly gave away Friday’s game against the Giants.
But after Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller each surrendered a run to squander a two-run lead, the Yankees rallied in the bottom of the eighth and Aroldis Chapman pitched around a leadoff double in the ninth to come away with a much-needed 3-2 win in The Bronx.
“These guys have been great all year for us,” Girardi said after the Yankees held on for their fifth win in six games. “Sometimes they’re gonna give up a run or two. We’ve got to pick them up and that’s what we did.”
Not in pretty fashion — although that was fitting in a game that featured five errors, four by the Giants.
In the eighth inning, with runners on first and second and no one out, Austin Romine failed to get a bunt down twice and then grounded to short. Brandon Crawford fielded the ball, stepped on second and threw wildly to first. Chase Headley was able to score from second.
“We’ll take it any way we can get it,” Headley said of the Yankees’ desperate need for victories.
The fact they needed such dramatics was unexpected, as Girardi’s plan worked well on Friday, from Masahiro Tanaka showing that he can pitch well without an extra day’s rest, to the offense scoring a couple of early runs off San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner.
But Betances and Miller both struggled and even after the Yankees regained the lead, Chapman gave up a leadoff double to Gregor Blanco in the ninth before retiring the next three to pick up his 20th save of the season.
“It’s probably not the first or last time that’s gonna happen,” Chapman said through a transla- tor, referring to the bullpen’s hiccup. “It’s gonna happen to them. It’s gonna happen to me. It’s part of the game.”
But the Yankees can hardly afford to throw away games at this point, especially in that way.
They got six scoreless innings from Tanaka, who entered the game 1-2 with a 5.33 ERA on regular rest this season.
And then to use Betances, Miller and Chapman and not come away with a win would have been crushing.
“You don’t see it very often, so when you see it, you’re a little bit shocked,” Girardi said of the bullpen not finishing the job. “But I’m gonna bet on them every time.”
As for the next 10 days, Girardi admitted there’s pressure.
“There’s some teams that have gone on great runs in the last month and got in the playoffs,” Girardi said before the game. “So, my head’s not in the sand. This is important.”
Perhaps you could argue that it is hard to come up with a scenario in which the Yankees find a way to shake off their seasonlong mediocrity and move up the standings enough to get to the postseason.
If that’s going to happen, Friday’s victory may be pointed to.
Girardi’s decision to go with a right-handed heavy starting lineup, at the expense of regulars Jacoby Ellsbury, Didi Gregorius, Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira, seemed to pay off initially, as they scored a pair of early runs off Bumgarner. Still, they weren’t able to do more damage against the southpaw when given the opportunity.
Tanaka pitched out of trouble in the second, third and fourth — helped by Carlos Beltran throwing out Blanco at the plate in the third.
But it came down to the ninth and the Yankees got back to two games over .500.
“We’re gonna go through some hard times,” Betances said. “It’s a good thing we came out on top. If we would’ve lost, it would’ve hurt more, for sure.”