The Yankees avoided a sweep thanks to one of their most dramatic wins of the season, an 8-7 win over the Tampa Rays in 10 innings on Wednesday night.
Here are the takeaways...
- Both clubs were held scoreless through the first two innings, but the Rays would strike first in the top of the third. Yandy Diaz doubled in Jose Siri to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
- The Yanks failed to answer in their next two times at bat. But the Rays poured it on a bit. Diaz again would rip an RBI double to left scoring Siri and Francisco Mejia. Tampa would take a 3-0 lead and knock Domingo German out of the game in the top of the fifth.
- The Bombers went down scoreless again in the bottom of the fifth. Harold Ramirez then blasted a solo homer just over the left field fence extending the Rays' lead to 4-0, which felt insurmountable.
- Then finally, the Yanks showed some signs of life. Aaron Judge led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and Gleyber Torres followed up with a two-run homer. That cut the lead to 4-2.
- The game went into a rain delay in the top of the seventh. Ron Marinaccio came out of the delay and got the Yanks out of a jam. Jose Trevino led off with a base hit in the bottom of the frame and DJ LeMahieu followed up with a pinch-hit single. Two batters later, Andrew Benintendi walked to work the bases loaded for Judge. Judge walked in a run and Torres stepped in with an opportunity to tie the game or break it wide open. But Torres hit a first-pitch ground ball to short for a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. The score remained 4-3 Tampa.
- The Yanks got their big break in the bottom of the eighth. Anthony Rizzo turned on one to lead off the inning and sent it into the short porch in right, tying the game.
- After Scott Effross got the first out in the 10th, Aaron Boone turned to Aroldis Chapman, who struggled to find his command. Chapman walked a pair to load the bases, and after a big strikeout when it looked like he might get out of the inning, Mejia snuck a grounder just inside the first-base line, scoring all three runners to make it a 7-4 game.
- Just as it looked like all hope was lost, the Yankees loaded the bases on a single and a walk in the bottom half of the inning, and Josh Donaldson delivered the game-winner, blasting a walk-off grand slam to right field to give the Yankees an improbable win.