DEJA WOOOO!
Gardener plays again as Yanks win sixth straight
Brett Gardner has shown a flair for the dramatic against Tampa Bay, and the Yankees can’t seem to lose.
His bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth gave the Yankees a 5-4 win over the Rays on Saturday in The Bronx.
It was the sixth straight win for the Yankees, who started the day in first place in the AL East for the first time in over a month. And it was the Yankees’ second walk-off win over Tampa Bay in three days.
“That team’s just on fire right now,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said of the Yankees.
Chase Headley, who hit a pinchhit homer in the sixth, started the winning rally with a leadoff walk and was replaced at first by Jacoby Ellsbury. The nearly forgotten $153 million outfielder promptly stole second with Todd Frazier at the plate.
After Brad Boxberger hit Frazier, Ronald Torreyes singled to load the bases with no one out when Boxberger didn’t field his bunt.
Dan Jennings came on to face Gardner, who won Thursday’s game with a homer in the 11th.
This time, it was a single up the middle.
“There was no reason not to be comfortable in that spot,” Gardner said.
“Brett Gardner takes care of business every time,” Frazier said. “He makes it look pretty easy out there. Hopefully, he’ll carry us right into the playoffs.” There is a long way to go before then, and moves around the league both before Monday’s nonwaiver trade deadline, as well as after, will play a key role in the Yankees’ future.
But as August approaches, the Yankees look as strong as they have all year — in part because of the bullpen, which was called upon to pitch 5 2/3 innings in relief of Caleb Smith.
Though Adam Warren and David Robertson both gave up solo homers, the rest of the group allowed the Yankees’ offense to finish the job.
Girardi opted to pull Smith with just one out in the fourth inning and a runner on first because Tampa Bay had a string of right-handed hitters lined up.
That led to Warren entering in the fourth and Dellin Betances in the sixth, as Girardi was aggressive once again.
“I knew I had a loaded bullpen, so I took advantage of it,” the manager said. “You’re not quite as rested [Sunday], so you have to pay for it a little bit then.’’
Warren allowed a two-out homer to Steven Souza Jr. to give the Rays a 3-2 lead.
But Matt Holliday singled to start the bottom of the sixth, which set up Headley’s tworun homer after he pinch-hit for Garrett Cooper against Sergio Romo.
Tommy Kahnle took over for Betances in the seventh with a one-run lead. Kahnle gave up consecutive one-out, pinch-hit singles to put runners on the corners, but struck out Souza on a 3-2 slider and retired Evan Longoria on a foul pop to end the threat.
Lucas Duda hit his second homer in as many games since joining the Rays, leading off the eighth with a booming shot to right off Robertson to tie the game again.
Aroldis Chapman stranded Souza at third in the top of the ninth by getting Longoria to pop out.
“We played a couple good games against Boston and then we make the trade and it changes everything,” Betances said.
“With a team like this, there’s no telling what we can do,’’ Frazier said. “The comeback wins we have, we’ll take every one we can get. It shows the resilience we have.”